How Society Treats The Elderly
I just recently wrote a paper in my AP Literature class about Cultural Considerations: Ill-Treatment Of The Elderly, and I thought, what a great topic to write on Live Journal! Yeah, I know, I can have my moments. Anyways, I'm just going to start out with this: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? There. That was great. Okay, moving on.
I have always had respect for my elders. They're the best people to know to take advise from, great or small and they always have the best stories whether they are true or not. So, I just don't understand why here in the United States, we send our elderly to the nursing home and only visit them occasionally. I'm sorry, but I am NOT looking forward to a nursing home, and I'm sure you aren't either. So why do we stick them in there? You wanna know why? Because we're too busy. Yeah, seriously. That's the answer. We're too busy to take care of the person who helped take care of me when I was little. Have some compassion, people. It is so sick to think that parents sacrifice so much for their children, and then they end up being dumped in the death camps (because that's seriously what they are) to be forever lonely and treated like a child. Majority of the problems like Alzheimer's and such are caused by medicines and the things that we put into our bodies. Even so, if the person has such diseases without the cause of medicines and the foods we eat and such, then you need to realize that the best place in the whole world is with their families. Putting them in a nursing home is just like sending a kid off to an asylum. And of course, I have heard rumors of abuse happening in the nursing homes. The nurses abuse their patients which if we hear about a child being abused, we'd all be hopping mad (which we should be), but if we hear about an old person being abused, eh, who cares, right? WRONG ANSWER, SPANKY! My grandma was telling of her sister (my great-aunt) and she is in the nursing home, and nothing has been seriously wrong with my Aunt Evelyn except that she has diabetes and a few side troubles with remembering things, but since she's been in the nursing home, she can't remember who died, who hasn't died, who is alive, it's just crazy. And grind up all of her food. She does NOT need her food grinded up and yet, they do it anyways. I'm sorry, but if you grinded up my food and handed it to me when I know that I am capable of eating it, I'm going to be throwing some stuff across the cafeteria there.
The other reason why society avoids the elderly is because of the obsession of youth. Since the 1950's, media has hit the teenage world majorly which media affects everyone. So, naturally, this obsession with being young came about. I was just watching an episode of Castle on the Internet when a commercial for a surgery came on. Now, if you get this surgery done, you could have no wrinkles and look ten years younger, though the side effects include, and I quote from the website: "Complications of laser surgery can generally be divided into short term and long-term side effects. The short term side effects include transient erythema, pruritus, milia formation, acneiform pustules, transient scarring, and long-term problems, such as hypopigmentation and, occasionally, permanent scarring." I don't know about you, but I would NOT risk my skin even though I have oily skin, I would not risk it just to get the wrinkles off my face. Personally, I believe that's why there's an obsession with vampires because of this obsession with youth. To stay young forever, that's the new American dream. And then, I saw on Time magazine, this:
Not even kidding. It's the Matrix all over again. Who wants to be immortal? Dying is only a small part of what the journey lies ahead. If you change that, then you have steered destiny waaaaay off track. It's sick to think that our world is turning into things like the Matrix and Brave New World. All because of the "little" obsession with being young. Treat the elders the way you want to be treated and love yourself no matter what age because no matter where you go, good honest people will only love you for being you.
