Talking Point: Would we treat Teddy Sheean at 97 with respect?

Would the war hero at 97 be suffering age discrimination, asks SARAH BOLT

CHOICE: COVID-19 tragedy should make us have a good, hard look at who so many have been forced to endure isolation or a lonely, frightening illness.

A PERSON’S race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, or disability can all stand alone. However there is one fated happening that travels with each characteristic — age.

The most fascinating, brilliant, vibrant and creative mind will grow old. Hero or villain both will inevitably succumb to the vagaries of age.

Age does not discriminate. It will attach itself to each of us. Human beings, on the other hand, have the proven and troubling capability to discriminate against older members of our community.

If all of us are on the same inescapable journey of ageing, why do we allow some older members of our community to be subjected to disdain, neglect, abuse and disrespect.

Ageing doesn’t change the person you have been. Age doesn’t erase a lifetime of trials and tribulations. Memories, losses, achievements, joys and sorrows remain a part of each one of us.

A hypothetical that springs to mind is what if Tasmanian Edward “Teddy” Sheean was still alive.

YOUNG HERO: Tasmanian Teddy Sheean.

Following a long campaign, on August 12 it was recommended Teddy Sheean be awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in the presence of the enemy. On November 29, 1942, after his warship was hit and badly damaged under enemy aerial fire, the order was given to abandon ship. While helping to free a life raft, Teddy was struck by two bullets in the back and chest.

Wounded and alone, Teddy scrambled across the deck of the sinking warship, strapped himself to a machine gun and fired at the enemy aircraft to protect his fellow sailors in the water. Teddy managed to damage two enemy planes and shoot one down. Even as the boat slipped beneath the sea he continued to protect his fellow sailors from strafe fire. Teddy was 18 years old when he died.

If Teddy Sheean was alive today he would be approaching 97 years of age. One wonders how he would be looked upon by the ordinary people interacting in his daily life — war hero or an almost invisible old man, needing assistance in simple tasks while contributing little to society. Sadly, with the exception of family and friends, the latter would probably prevail. Every person on this planet has a responsibility to be forward thinking. To acknowledge and own the fact that age, and all that it brings, is a part of living.

We have a responsibility to ensure every older member of our community is treated with respect, kindness and dignity. Had this been the ethos of our collective personal, professional and political selves, the dreadfulness some older people have experienced in recent months would never have occurred.

COVID-19 has shone the light on the need for every one of us to have a long, hard look at why too many vulnerable older members of our society, through no fault of their own, have been forced to endure prolonged isolation or, worse, a lonely and frightening illness.

As we move forward we have a choice. We either protect the emotional and physical wellbeing of our older citizens, or we validate the common reality that we all too often fail to learn from history.

I hope as a society we will prove to be smarter than that.

Sarah Bolt is Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner.