View report page

104
Only in recent years has any determined official effort been
made to understand the needs and improve the lot of the aged.
Indeed, services introduced with such intentions must be numbered
among the latest additions to those already being administered by
local authorities for preventive purposes.
From time immemorial, questions such as the maintenance
of health and the prolongation of life have engaged the attention
of wise men, from the Greek and Roman philosophers to the
present-day men of science. Nevertheless, despite all that has
been said, written, theorised and attempted it is clear that the
majority of men and, to a lesser extent women, have failed to
adapt themselves to what, after all, is a normal situation, viz,
ageing and the fact that all human life is limited.
A woman generally weathers the vicissitudes of life somewhat
better than a man. This is very probably due to the fact that, at
retiring age, there is no real break in her life comparable with that
of a man. Her activities continue, albeit more slowly, on similar
lines to those evident before retirement. On the other hand, a
man retires not only from a life-long occupation but also from
a way of life and his environment become.s more restricted. From
being a symbol of strength and the mainstay of the family he
often finds himself becoming a somewhat awkward domestic to
be humoured or tolerated and is bewildered to find that the outside
commercial world is able to carry on without his active participation.
Furthermore, by reason of reduced finances, he is unable
to meet on an equal footing his previous friends who still pursue
remunerative occupations. All these events tend to widen the gap
between his existing world and the one he knew and they furnish
a reasonable explanation for the sudden physical and mental
deterioration which many men sustain shortly after retirement.
Adjustment in these circumstances is extremely difficult, if not
impossible, especially if the problems of retirement and old age
have not been faced earlier.
On giving up their jobs, men and women can anticipate up
to 20 years of retirement, a period, we must remember, equal to
that between birth and marriage. Moreover, with the spread of
automation, extension of this period is more than conceivable. So
often is retirement looked upon as a well-earned rest from the
enervating, fast, modern world of over-packed trains and buses
and a welcomed release perhaps from dreary and repetitive work
that, on the "day", realisation that a pattern of life built up over
half a century is about to disintegrate, comes as a profound shock.
In many instances this is probably the first step to mental
instability.