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"Whatever good there is in the world I inherit from the courage and work of those who went before me. I, in turn, have a responsibility to make things better for those who will inherit the earth from me."

- Arthur Dobrin

Within just a few weeks, I will "officially" join the ranks of Senior Citizens. Like many in my generation, and many before I would assume, I never thought I would ever grow old. Don't get me wrong. My mind and body are still juvenile enough for me to want to walk on walls and roll in the grass. But watching the numbers climb to 65 has been a disconnect.

What really started me thinking about it was the words of an angry young man on one of the talk shows recently who declared emphatically that his generation didn't have a problem with race and it was only the older people - those who had lived through segregation - who kept racial animosity alive. The sooner they died off, he posited, the sooner the problem of race would be gone.

Ah, the bliss of youth that they can see the future so clearly while being blind to the past.

Don't they understand that the older people endured and struggled against racism, successfully - that's the only reason the younger people don't get to experience it. If us older folk had not lived through it, fought against it, even while being punished because of and by it, the younger folk would now be living in it. But there's more to older people than that. Many of us sacrificed to build schools so that younger people could be educated. We overcame racial and economic barriers and worked two or three jobs so young people could be housed and fed.

Had we not risked our jobs and homes and our freedom in events leading up to and following the theatre boycott, young people might still not be able to sit upstairs at the movies, or go into the front doors of some hotels, or eat at some restaurants.

It was the friendliness and hospitality of the older people that earned Bermuda its reputation as a tourist destination. It was the dedication of older teachers that brought the three 'Rs' to families who couldn't afford to pay for schooling. It was the sense of community among the older people that helped the community build houses or cover medical bills when money was scarce.

It was the older people who made the main library accessible to all and advocated for a children's library. It was the older people who kept the Island from being bought up by foreigners, and who protected our beaches from being privatized for the exclusive use of tourists.

For all the good things you young people take for granted and for all the worst of the bogeymen you never had to face, thank an older person.

Because, whether you like it or not, you'll be one of us one day.[[In-content Ad]]

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