All through human history there have always been old folks.
However, never so damn many of us! What's going on here? Lot of
explanations, but in a way they all come down to this basic irony: Young
people have been making more old people, and now aren't quite sure what
to do with us.
Our bright young medical scientists are
prolonging lives. Great. I'm 81. A hundred years ago, I would probably
have been dead at last 30 years. What's happened is not only a
Population Explosion but simultaneously a Health Explosion. At least in
most of the nations north of the equator.
As a result, government
officials are in a budget quandary...Hallmark Cards is in a selling
bonanza ... and grandchildren have more grandparents in their lives than
ever before in history.
While everyone sorts out these
consequences -- both good and bad -- one pattern has emerged loud and
clear. With elders like us hanging around longer, our children have
found a way to avoid the old tribal custom of "housing the folks in the
back room" once we're too feeble to go it alone. Behold the
multi-billion dollar senior home industry.
While the experts
slice-and-dice this new development, the really big issue remains
unanswered. What is the best role for those of us living longer, but
still in decent health? In ancient cultures -- and many non-western ones
still today -- the elders have traditionally been seen as the "wise
ones," "the voices of experience," "the prophets."
Do today's
older-aged elders retain that status? deserve that status?earned that
status? Something for a young culture like ours to think about the next
time they drive over to Sunset Manor to visit us....
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