Old Age and Survival Beyond

Posted on November 23, 2010

Old Age and Survival Beyond
In Buddhist history one of the signs Buddha saw in his outing outside the Royal Castle was an ambling old man.
It is certain that now all of us will live up to old age (with one proviso which I will enlarge open later), now that the war is over and it will probably never surface again (but another war will emerge to replace it and it is showing all the evidence all over the world) for a decade or so.
 

Another sign Buddha saw was debilitating sickness (no age difference).

Unfortunately in old age sickness is common accompaniment and many of us have no coverage for sickness while working or in old age. 

(The other two signs are not for worldly gains but for visions beyond worldly dreams and it is inappropriate and contextually not relevant here).

It is true that we have free medical services but the delivery system has major imbalances but geared to emergency service (O.P.D) and supportive.
Services are not proactive and health education (preventative) is of low priority.

For example cost of renal transplantation and open heart surgery are prohibitive.

What is important is that the quality life falls below what was maintained drastically in old age and especially when one is a pensioner.

I cannot see any country that does not discriminate due to age, be it is childhood, young or old age.

It is enshrined in U.N.O. protocol that there should not be any discrimination due to age, sex. race or (and many other elements) religion.

But in practice NO country enforces these principles that are written in black and white on paper.

This is the sad part of the story and only a few can prolong the life while maintaining the standards they enjoyed as young.

That is the reality of life and there is always some discrimination especially when old and very young.

Now I should say what happened in U.K. three decades ago with Mrs. Thather (she was in for power for three terms) in full swing.

She embraced the American Policy and Dream and propagated that every one can become very rich provided one works hard.

She systematically destroyed collective responsibility by destroying the miner’s strike and introducing various reforms including in Education and Health.

She changed the universal right to protect life (It is the Government’s Responsibility) and in good quality too.

She pruned the Health Service and introduced the Private Pension Scheme (which was more attractive than the basic government pension).

Now 30 years later who were attracted by the economic boom and the eventually bust in 2009, are living in absolute poverty (in European terms) and government have no funds to support them and they are increasing the pensionable age to 67 and more years.

I was one who believed I should work as long as possible not at the same pace as young but moderate and steady pace (not many think like me though) since not doing any work is anathema to me (having worked all my life without any consideration for day or night).

But like in cricket (except intellectual activity) one has to throw the towel like Flintoff (classic example of Burnt Out Syndrome -like the hard working miners of Sheffield of yesteryear) when one is not able to perform (intellectual capacity falls dramatically from the age of 30 years and at much faster rate after 60 unfortunately but the Ego and hanging to life increases at an amazingly fast rate but inversely proportionate to former).

This is where I feel is it worth doing a bypass and prolong the life for another 5 or 10 years and living a quality of life hand to mouth in old age and be a burden to self and to the immediate family.
 

This is the choice one has to make but I have seen very few of individuals that are prepared to face life bravely and without much attachment to name and self.

There was a saying what I heard but never believed (this is the belief inculcated in politicians irrespective of the party of origin- G.O.P or not) in childhood.

Mind you this not a Buddhist saying (statement) but words are in Pali.

Jivitham Annitham (Maranam-jiratham) sa Nama Goththam Nijirathie.

Life is impermanent but name and creed will last.

The first part of the statement is philosophically true and hence the second part cannot be true.

So some time ago as a kid I changed it to

Jivitham Annitham (Maranam-Jiratham) sa Nama Goththam Jirathie.

That is the only Buddhist Concept I learned by myself and follow it to this day.

I am very insignificant in numbers game if I compare myself to the millions of life forms on this planet.

All life forms love their life but how many bacteria I killed and how many mosquitoes I killed cannot be estimated in numbers.

Fortunately I cannot kill viruses including AIDS Virus.

I have a theory that viruses are essential to evolution on this planet including AIDS Virus and H1A1 and ultimately viruses will determine the final outcome of the human race (man had been developing biological agents for warfare) and the planet earth will produce one virulent virus to eliminate humans species one day.
Coronavirus was man made and there were biological laboratories in Ukraine to kill Russians, especially President Putin.
 

If we are so selfish like what we are today and rest of all the humans who inhabit this planet I do not think that the 3rd or 4th generation of mankind SURVIVING.

I THINK OF MY SURVIVAL ONLY.

IS IT REASONABLE?

Doom and Gloom, that is if we do not control the expansion of human race and protect the extinction of resources that man needs for his survival including quality of drinking water.

The same principle applies to me too in my old age.

In old age, I do not need a bypass or or kidney from another. 

 

This is what I believe for myself but can I convince anther soul to this conviction?

I do not think so!

I had been an enough contributor to dwindling resources and saying good bye to this planet should not be an offense but should be dear commitment!

We are too consumerist like all Americans, Indians and Chinese!

Africans are also following suit where the human race believed to have originated for the first time.

Our selfishness will lead us to our extinction one day!

That is the universal truth!