Traditional societies tend to respect and appreciate the elderly more than modern ones.
When it comes to the treatment of the elderly, traditional societies vary greatly.
In rural Fiji, for example, people house their elderly parents and take good care of them, even pre-chewing their food for them if necessary.
On the other end of the extreme, there are groups where the elderly are abandoned or killed if resources are insufficient to care for them.
In general, though, traditional societies do hold tremendous respect for the elderly since they’ve accumulated a great deal of knowledge about things like myths, good foraging grounds, and the various uses of plants and animals.
What’s more, in many traditional societies, the elderly continue to contribute in whatever way they can: as mentioned in the previous blink, they take care of their grandchildren, but also hunt and forage for whatever animals and plants suit their abilities, for example, smaller game.
In modern society, unfortunately, the elderly tend to be viewed as far less useful, and there are many lessons we could learn from traditional societies in this respect.
One big reason for the declining respect for the elderly is that we now have other ways of storing knowledge, which lessens their role as reservoirs of wisdom. But, in fact, young people would benefit greatly from hearing first-hand about historical events like World War II. Indeed, some educational programs aim to do this by bringing together the elderly with high school students, who can then learn valuable lessons from their first-hand accounts.
What’s more, grandparents could play a more significant role in today’s child-rearing: they’re experienced parents themselves, tend to be highly motivated to care for their grandchildren, and the actual parents would typically welcome a break, so this is a win-win for everyone.
At the same time, we should try to find ways to allow the elderly to stay in working life if they want to. They must be able to contribute in areas they’re skilled and experienced in at a pace that suits them.