Mal Fletcher comments

Of course, the reason the human psyche pushes hard against the idea of old age is that we're not too keen on what lies beyond it.

In his Pulitzer Prize winning book 'Denial of Death', Ernest Becker argued that the fear of death is our most primal driving force and the source of all human heroism. We try to achieve something in this life, he said, so that we will, at some level, beat death and achieve immortality.

The awareness of death, then, is a great motivator. But Becker said it is also our greatest source of frustration. No matter how much we achieve, we live with the quiet and persistent awareness that we will face the ignominy of the grave.

If this is true it is something shared by all human beings whatever their creed or cultural heritage. Yet while death may not be too popular, there are cultures that revere old age and the elderly, whereas we in the West tend to try to put the old out of sight and out of mind.

Part of our problem with old age and the elderly may be the fact that we tend to measure self-worth on the basis of appearance. Or perhaps in our highly self-sufficient culture we fear the loss of control and the diminishment of influence that seem to come with old age.

Whatever the reason we fear it, old age should not be synonymous with loneliness or alienation. Communities the world over are at their strongest when all the generations share and explore life together.

Harry Patch and others like him, who spend their old age passing on the wisdom of experience to younger generations, challenges us to rethink postmodern approaches to ageing.

The elderly have more to offer us than we usually allow.

In this age of increasingly rapid and often random change, we need voices of experience more than ever; people who can help us develop perspective, a sense of the long view. We need people who can give us a sense of our own place in history. In an age where family is breaking down on many fronts, young people in particular need to feel connected to a larger story.

One writer has said that the greatest tragedy isn't death; it's when a person dies while he's still alive. Ultimately, we may never be able to stop the ageing process, but we can age well. Good ageing is measured by the way we respond to the challenges of life.

Ageing well is finding the right answers to these questions. Will we allow ourselves to become bitter and withdrawn as we grow older? Will we constantly complain about the weaknesses of the 'young generation'? Will we look back over our shoulders with regret and recrimination?

Or will we adopt an outgoing, altruistic approach that tries to leave giant footprints in the sands of time? Hellen Keller said that, 'Life is most fulfilling when it's lived in the service of others.'

As technology allows more of us to live longer, we must learn to support the interests and needs of the elderly, while calling and equipping them to do as Harry Patch did in his latter years: to invest in a positive future they may never see.