March 13, 2013Dear Sir,Lately there have been numerous letters from senior citizens to the Editor (one in today’s Royal Gazette, March 13), and articles in regard to the reintroduction for senior citizens driving licence fees — and they are all whining.Unfair? They sound like they are in their second childhood. Spare me; life is unfair. Most of us find it hard to make ends meet and this is usually because we live or have lived beyond our means.“Treating our seniors like sacrificial lambs, losing their dignity and liberty”? Please! Sacrificial lambs? Because we are asked to go back to something we had to pay for not so long ago? Loss of dignity? Pathetic. Old age is the greatest robber of dignity and liberty; anyway, think how much dignity you lost by whining in The Royal Gazette — even if you didn’t sign your name.Of course it is hard growing old; the loss of a steady income, the lack of the mobility we once knew and thought we would always have, never mind the lost dreams, memory, hair, waistline and teeth. Don’t think I don’t know what it is like to grow old; I am in my 70th year, I don’t have a pension, I did not save when I was making money and should have (stupid me), and have under $3,000 to my name — but that is no excuse for whining. If I can’t afford to licence my bike (I can’t afford a car) then I will have to hobble along; they say exercise is good for you. One thing is for sure, life does not owe you or me a living.Cut the dead wood in any department of the Government you can — they all need trimming — but that does not give senior citizens the right to free licensing, although it was great to have had that burden removed for a few years. (Thank you PLP).Senior citizens, this is your call to stop your whining, for if nothing else, you set a bad example. (Not that the young ever listen to us, mind you. Still, it would be nice if they did not have an excuse to put ‘whiner’ on our gravestone).MARK EMMERSONPembroke