Old Age, Politics  & Suicide

Joseph Warren - Greta L. Hill, Editors

http://TheIndependentDaily.com

Fortunately, nearly everyone I meet is in the same boat: They’re Americans too, so apologies are not needed, although I feel the urge on occasion notwithstanding.

But our readership is broad and extends through much of Europe and through many areas of “The Other Europe:” that is, people who are not otherwise precluded from reading Western publications. (Russia is frequently absent as of late owing to various information embargoes imposed by Putin as he attempts to shore up the loose ends of his government, fearing external influences.)

And for those readers in other countries who perceive that America is a mess, let me assure you, it is. In fact, dismally so. So much so that on occasions like today I think, “There’s far too much ignorance and insanity to endure any longer.” No wonder our suicide rate is so high. And it is:

Annually nearly 43,000 Americans elect to take their own lives rather than face another day (http://afsp.org). That’s a sad commentary and sobering statistic. Suicide in America is twice that of Britain and thrice (recently taken the SAT? To clarify, “thrice” means “three times”) that of Liberia, Indonesia, Mexico, and just a whole bunch of countries where one might think that waking up in the morning to face yet another day of emptying cauldrons of outhouse muck and milking yaks would be the ultimate chore. Apparently, it isn’t.

And, lest you think that the majority of suicides are attributable to oppressed minorities or those experiencing some form of angst pinned to their sexuality, you would be wrong: Seven of 10 suicides are White Males, most of whom are heterosexual. They are just White men who have gotten lost in the turbulence of life – frustrated, probably, by their ill-defined existential state, and turning to alcohol and other drugs as a means of dulling their perceived reality, until that proves hopeless as well.

How do we kill ourselves in America? About 50% of White males identified above do so with a firearm. Why? Because that is the most expedient manner resulting in an Agony Index, according to http://lostallhope.com of only 5.5, versus the most agonizing method, which appears to be setting fire to one’s self (95 on the AI scale) -  which, per my Jesuit education would relegate me to Malebolge, whereafter I would experience an infinite duration of agony to the same degree and in the same manner.

(According to Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (http://save.org) for every successful suicide, if I may use that word in this context, there are an additional 25 attempted.)

Per the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (http://aamft.org) 18% of suicide deaths are those people you classify as Elderly: We lose our Faith, as it were, much as Virgil had confessed to Dante.

The result? Rather than subject our families and estates to the painfully long process of dying (whether induced through resignation or disease), we elect instead to end our lives “prematurely” to prevent financial and emotional loss. Get it over with, in other words. And, in this election year I can certainly understand why someone would prefer to not witness the further collapse of our society, evidence of which abounds daily.

As Joyce said, “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake” (Ulysses). It’s tough to awake from the nightmare of history while it’s being made so poorly.

According to a statement by Dr. Patrick Arbore regarding Elderly suicides (http://ioaging.org), “Social isolation is a risk factor; connection a protective factor.” Summed up nicely, I think: In our society today “Old People” are a bother to their children. At the least, we are a financial source to subvent their failings in a collapsing economic order. At the most, a painful reminder of what lies ahead.

So, we lose connection with them and with those with whom we experienced life: our spouses and others predecease us, and our involvement in life crumbles; we become brain dead before our time as we insist on filling the void our life has become with mindless television and other activities designed by professional caregivers to keep us “Alert.”

Generally (meaning the vast majority of the elderly) don’t read worthwhile books and publications; they don’t write; they don’t communicate about salient issues facing our society; they don’t pursue other vocations or professions; they shrug off life after retirement except for involvement in various “lodges” and organizations designed to entertain our increasingly enfeebled minds: if they exercise it’s in some quaint, humiliating way such as standing in a pool with other flaccid creatures who, together, thrash their arms about and flail the water.

The American Association of Retired Persons (now, simply, AARP) and other heavily-promoted publications image the elderly as smiling, happy, contented, and well-dressed trim white-haired people enjoying a cocktail on a cruise ship to the last roundup. America’s elderly generally do not look like that, and, in my opinion, it is nothing in the way of an aspiration. (By way of confirming my statement, walk through any Wal-Mart and observe the (mostly) retired people trundling about leaning on their carts.)

Our society today is what it has become because we – the elderly in America – have permitted the mindless, uneducated (even those who are classified as college graduates) youth of today who are driven by immediate gratification and carefree consumerism to usurp our input into the shaping of America. We have abdicated responsibility. We are generally content to “sit this one out” and await death.

In a recent Diane Rehm Show (http://thedianerehmshow.org) representatives of the Millennial generation testified that there was a certain level of anger toward us, the Boomer and earlier generation, because Millennials believe they are now encumbered financially by the various Entitlement programs supporting us in our Old Age.

Diane wasn’t present hosting the show, as usual, and neither substitute Diane nor anyone else with a microphone decided to correct this “Master’s Level” idiot by helping her to understand that we – the Elderly - are supporting ourselves through our past and current contributions – direct and indirect – to our economy and the various Entitlement programs funded by those contributions. And, although obvious to me, her Master’s degree was funded to a large extent by our tax money and her parental support during, at least, her early childhood. So, F-off.

The most important message to take away from this reading is that, ironically, life still belongs to the living regardless of age: Second-third-fourth careers, great works of art, the development of science, advances in all forms of intellectual activities have begun for many only after crossing their life’s Rubicon. (And, I am not speaking of crafts being taught at a table in an Old Folks home.)

What it requires is intellectual flexibility. The acquired capacity to adapt one’s thinking to new or different or challenging ways of viewing life and its constructs about us. This may only come from reading and discussion. It cannot come from television, or Youtube, or (certainly not) Facebook.

It requires that one focus one’s mind on developing those thoughts earned from reading into a coherent expression of ideas: Writing.

It means renewing one’s perspective on life and driving it toward a future good for the benefit of the Millennial twits who, before they know it, will face being an Elder citizen more quickly than they can imagine.

It comes from challenging one’s self to explore other thinking. Is does not come from suicide…

…unless either Trump or Clinton win in November. Then, a bag of Helium might be about the right antidote. It would save me from having to apologize to our readers in Europe for our collective stupidity.