RETIRED PEOPLE should not reduce themselves to “sitting on the subs’ bench”, and should challenge the view that older people had to become “observers of other people’s lives”, a conference in Killarney was told yesterday.
Retired and older men, especially, were at risk of becoming isolated and inactive, unless offered practical hands-on activities, over 400 representatives at Active Retirement Ireland’s annual meeting heard.
Dr Martin McAleese, who drew a laugh from the audience when he confessed he had now reached “the three-score years”, had looked back at his own view of his father at the age of 50 when he himself was 16, and then at his father when he was 60. He would now never know what his father must have felt when subjected to comments about his age. However, it was really older people who needed to look at how they viewed themselves, Dr McAleese said.
“There is a tendency for older people to reduce their activities and expectations . . . to sitting down and becoming an observer of other people’s lives . . . Retirement shouldn’t mean that older people retire to the subs’ bench,” he said.
“People want to live full lives all their lives and are entitled to do so,” Dr McAleese said.
During a visit to China with President Mary McAleese, he had observed benches in public parks for older people. These were exercise benches, but the view here would be that benches were for seating older people.
Maureen Kavanagh, chief executive of Active Retirement Ireland, said here and in the Western world research had found men were “less likely” than women to remain active in society once they had retired. “Many men’s social spheres revolve entirely around the workplace and when they retire, these social spheres often aren’t replaced. The loss of a partner or spouse can also contribute to isolation, especially among rural men.”
ANNE LUCEY