Let me begin by saying that I LOVE elderly people. I just do, and always have, the stories of times gone by, the tales of struggle and survival of days that we could not possibly imagine in our modern spoiled, "everything ready right here-right now" society that we live in today, and the general wisdom that comes with any amount of real age brings with it.
That brings me to part of what I feel I need to rant on tonight, the disassociation between the young and old that used to not exist, and the total lack of respect that the younger generation, some of my generation included, shows towards the old folks today. Even on the kids networks, (Disney, Nickelodeon, etc), they project the elderly as a joke, something to be ridiculed or broken down and useless. It's really disturbing when you stop and analyze the way seniors are projected in modern television programming.
Violence against the older generation is rampant these days, everyday you can watch the news or open a paper or read an online media source and see where someone has broken into an elderly person(s) home and beat/murdered them for one reason only; that they are older and weaker, and can't resist as well. It speaks volumes about the mentality and shape of the world today. I'm not a wealthy man, never have been, probably never will be, but if I was, I'd give ANYTHING to be left alone in a room with some of these monsters that prey on the weak and the old for just a few minutes! I've only been really good at a couple of things in my life, and vengeance, although not necessarily appropriate at times, is definitely one of them.
I can recall getting off of the school bus in rural western North Carolina and literally running to get to my grandparents house where we stayed until my father got off of his 2nd shift job. I looked forward to every moment spent with my dads parents in the evenings after school, watching them go about their everyday chores, and waiting for the next episode of a tale of their youth, or just soaking up the "spoiling" that inevitably came.
Even though I can't remember much of my mothers parents, as I was separated from them in my parents divorce as a young child, I did retain over the 16 or so years until our next meeting the unconditional love, kindness and the stories and general lessons they tried to convey upon me in the few years they did have with me.
I can't pinpoint where things went wrong with the youth and elderly in our country, but I know it's a terrible shame. The things young folks could learn and life lessons they could attain are priceless as time goes on and youth leaves them and they themselves have to learn to become the older, responsible, leaders of tomorrow. I realize that I was by no means a saint, and in fact was probably the "anti-role model" of my peers, but I gotta' be honest with you, the thought of some of the younger people I know personally being the cornerstone of our society in years to come literally frightens the hell out of me!!
Most young folks, generally speaking, know nothing of responsibility, hard work, and the basic ideals that founded this once great country of ours. There are exceptions, I realize, and don't mean to offend the youth who are diligent, hard working and responsible, because there are some still around. Whether it be the farm kid waking up at dawn to do his daily routine or the kid who's busting his butt working and trying to get into a good school to pursue his dreams, there are some who have an inkling of the old values and standards of the past, but they are few and far between.
We are a greed-driven society now, survival of the fittest, every-man-for-himself, get me before I get you, kind of mentality. The lessons of old of charity, compassion, and humanity are things of fairy tale legends these days.
I worked in a rest home/ domiciliary facility in my 20's and although some of the finer details of the job didn't appeal to me at first, I immediately enjoyed being around the older people in the home and still hold many of them near and dear to my heart.
I must take a step away for a moment and say that something that plagues, puzzles and pretty much angers me is that the people who care for these folks in these facilities are some of the most overworked, under- paid, disrespected individuals in our modern work force. They are charged with possibly the most important task there is...the responsibility of, the well being and prosperity of other peoples family and "loved ones". I use the "loved ones" vaguely as some are just dropped off and discarded like Goodwill donations. Theirs is a thankless job of bathing, feeding, and caring for the misplaced, displaced, elderly, and despaired souls of our time. They are spit on, struck, cursed daily as well as being belittled by the "real" medical community, all for a minimum wage salaries. I think it's truly one of the greatest atrocities of modern times.
Now that I have apparently exhausted my body in construction work, I have returned of late to work at the same rest home that I worked at nearly 15 years ago. The one thing that I've noticed is that for one, there aren't nearly as many truly "old" people there any more, they are mostly mental health clients, or drug/alcohol rehab kind of residents. I find myself sitting in the old lobby looking around the seats now occupied by people half the age of the people that I remember being there and reminiscing about the "good ol' days" and the stories told and some of the genuine characters that used to roam these same halls of the likes that will never be seen again, and I feel a pang of sadness and longing for times gone by.
I scan the world scene and find basically the same issue on a global scale. The elderly are dismissed as second rate citizens with the option of having enough money to pay for their power bill or buying their medicine for the month, while criminals and miscreants are coddled and looked after as though they are important to the betterment of society.
I know that nothing I will say will change the greater social landscape as far as the treatment of the elderly, and the injustice of the people in their charge being dumped on daily, or the way that this younger generation approaches the world and it's older, wiser members, but hey...I can HOPE, and without hope, there is nothing.
If you still have a grandparent, great aunt/uncle, hell anyone you care about from the older generation, give 'em a big ol' hug, tell them you appreciate the sacrifices their generation went through; and trust me there were many, and just sit back and LISTEN and learn and enjoy the lessons of people who have truly "been there and done that", and hopefully you'll come out with a better understanding of where we as a whole need to be heading to make it together in the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqgjCKm9nQ
Just some good background music while you read......
No comments:
Post a Comment