Dear LPG

I truly identified with Beverly’s poem (►►►) and concur when she says it is improbable that we can get to retirement age without feeling that ‘Has it all been worth it?’ feeling at one time or another in our lives.

I think she is right when she says that we older people are best placed for others to confide in. We can often also notice the anguish in the lives of those around us even if they are trying to suppress it and show the rest of the world that outward aura of ‘everything is all right’.

As I have become older, the memory of what seemed like the ‘end of the world’ type of problems that I thought I had experienced seemed to have shrunk to the point where I now wonder why I was so worried about them in the first place.

We all have times when we are in a challenging phase, but one person’s colossal problem is often so much less significant than another’s that finding someone to talk to can help us see the whole thing a little differently. When you listen to someone else’s take on it, things can often look a little better from their perspective, while the effect on the way you see your present problems can also alter for the better.  

The point has to be that we oldies should not be reluctant to be the ‘go-to’ person. We are qualified, and we do have the experience…

One thing that I have noticed is that now that I am older, I find myself being one of the people that some of the troubled people ‘Go to’ because, at my age, there is not a lot that I have not seen or done.

I hope that I am not the only person for which the size of each difficulty faced is also liable to appear smaller as time goes by. We have to be a lot older to realise that those enormous problems we thought we had at the time have a habit of shrinking to a more realistic size with hindsight. We older people know that waiting for it to pass can be a painful business, so passing on the benefit of our experience might not be a bad thing to do when you can.

The young think that we live in an entirely dissimilar world than they do, but when you take the computers, fast food, fast cars, and mobile phones away, there is little difference. 

I think what I am trying to say is that we need to use our friends when things get us down, observe and be ready to keep an eye on those same friends so that we see when things are getting them down and be prepared to offer and accept each other’s advice more readily.  

WS, Peckham

…and LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

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