In my grandparent’s generation, people had it harder, but they knew how to live. They had to monitor the level of water in their tanks. They grew their own vegetables. They had to wait until it was strawberry season to eat strawberries. They knew that if the banana crop failed there would be no bananas. They lived through the depression and acknowledge even to this day that waste is unacceptable. This meant living simpler, but it didn’t mean living worse.
People my age have never experienced this. Instead of an economic collapse meaning a drastic reconfigurment of how life was lived, collecting scrap metal and reusing everything, our recession meant a $900 cheque in the mail. The youth of today are bombarded, scrimping for beer money, busy and lets face it selfish, hungover and too cool. I’m not being facetious or overly simplistic, I know because I’m one of them.
Many an organisation has spent meeting after meeting, truckloads of cash and time trying to influence youth and get their message into schools. And for obvious reasons, youth are the future, yadda yadda.
However, little to no resources are spent on the untapped goldmine that is – er, older folk. Your average retiree has a truckload of time on their hands, probably have children and grandchildren and therefore care about more than just themselves, more often than not, a they’ll bit of cash on their hands, a lifetime of experience and skills that could help your cause and are friendly approachable. I have found this time after time.
Of course, many grey haired future activists may not have the tech skills of the youth, but they have an array of skills, acquired over years and years of experience. Too often (and I am guilty of this myself) an older person is overlooked in a campaign, I urge you to reconsider!!
Organisations are realising the asset they can be- GetUp, for example acknowledges that the MAJORITY of their membership is over 55. I think it is the same for much of the climate movement. Of course there are exceptions, but let’s tap into the resources that we have to make our movement stronger!
To hark back to my political inspiration, Jed Bartlett- “Don’t mess with a grandfather, they are madmen” and in the best possible way.
