Recently I read an article in The Australian newspaper about the cost of an aging population.
Group of seniors playing cards in a retirement village
Christine Bryant
It made the oft-repeated point that the burden of supporting the elderly is falling on the next generation. It implied how unfair it was that “boomers” receive a pension that is unlikely to be available to the generations to come.
Now, I’m not too familiar with how the pension is computed in Australia, but I know it is more complicated than in New Zealand. Here it is straightforward: two or three months before your 65th birthday you can apply to receive the pension – It’s as simple as that.
There are two factors in this implied resentment which are often conveniently over-looked.
Firstly, everyone who receives income, including a superannuitant, pays tax on it, and everyone pays GST on goods and services. Therefore, it is not true to say that retirees don’t contribute financially to society. They pay tax like all earners, and many have been doing so for decades.
Secondly, it is impossible to put a dollar value on the amount which retirees contribute to their communities in voluntary work. For example, I read in last week’s Te Awamutu News that a Menzshed is opening in Cambridge. A group of men have donated their time and expertise and renovated premises to provide a place for men to socialise and work on individual and community projects. The Menzshed in Te Awamutu has a great track record of undertaking tasks for the community, from repairing wooden toys for Playcentres to making possum traps for conservation work on Pirongia.
Next project: Menzshed members, from Lloyd Jackson, Garry Botting and Steve Mannington turn their attention to Freeman Court’s lazy boy chairs and how to raise them.
Dismissing the “elderly” as costly is inaccurate and unjust. Many services in our community would not exist without older volunteers. Think of the Health Shuttle drivers, Food Bank, social support such as community meals, youth groups and Mainly Music provided by the churches, Meals on Wheels, Op Shops – all these are largely staffed by retirees.
Volunteers also work as hospital chaplains or visitors or serve meals and offer support in hospices. Members of Rotary, Lions, Altrusa, many of whom are retired, continue to fundraise for projects which will benefit the whole community. Within families, many benefit from the free childcare offered by grandparents, not forgetting, of course, the surplus produce from their gardens.
In John 2, we read of Jesus at a wedding in Cana. The host runs out of wine, so Jesus, urged on by his mother, turns the water into wine. It is such good wine the guests remark that the host has saved the best until last. One bible commentary likens this wine to our journey through life. Just as a good red takes years to reach its best, so we start out young in faith, full of raw enthusiasm. As the years pass, if we allow Jesus to work in us, we become at last like the good wine at Cana, rich, mellow and with much subtlety of bouquet.
Seeing older people as a financial drain is not helpful. We should celebrate all that they offer to society and consider them a blessing. Whether they are active or less mobile, they offer help to families, encourage young people realise their dreams, visit the sick and lonely and support those who are struggling. Without their efforts, many services that provide essential aid would struggle to exist.
