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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend Red Rag column: On turning 80 By: Gideon Spiro 8 September 2015 80 years old To all my well-wishers, thanks from the bottom of my heart. A few words about old age. At age 20 I could not have imagined what life would be like at age 80. It looked to me then like a passage to the mountains of darkness. Old age has a sad aspect, to which the poet David Avidan gave expression in his poem, “Old man”: “What does he have in his life?” It is a very pessimistic and sad poem about an old man who waits for the day of his death, accompanied by suffering and pain. And indeed, despite the saying “Do not cast me aside in my old age”, old people who are forced to live on a social security stipend are in effect thrown by the wayside, hungry and sick, like an irritant that must be removed from our lives as fast as possible. There is also optimistic old age, the old age of those who through luck or wisdom have enough to live on in their old age. Their health, with the help of medications, permits them to function independently, enveloped in the love of their children and grandchildren, even though they left the nest and turned from chicks to eagles, as Arik Einstein put it in his song. They keep in contact with their parents and take care of their needs. And then there is another group, a sub-grouping of the second group, members in whom the flame of their youthful anger has only intensified with the years. Anger at injustice and inequality, anger at wars and racism. The anger creates words that turn into sentences, which become ideas. That is the fingerprint they leave for the coming generations. And if I am not mistaken, that is the group I belong to. Thanks again to all my well-wishers. Translated from Hebrew for Occupation Magazine by George Malent Links to the latest articles in this section Three weeks into the Gaza War - a somber and sober assessment, with some historical perspectives Israelis, Palestinians, Gaza, Hamas - trying to preserve sanity Gush Shalom: The UN decision is a very necessary message to Israel’s extreme right-wing government