B"H
modern era, and has placed the issue of geriatrics on the front
burner. This is especially traumatic for second generatio n
parents whose offspring live at varying extremities of distances
from the nuclear fa milies, while they're still left with
responsibility to care for their senile progenitors; no longer i n
their spry, and unable to achieve satisfaction within the realm
the interrelationships spanning three and often four generations.
Modernity has resulted in the overwhelming geriatric
population caught in the swirl of dysfunctional societa l
oblivion; masses with no purposeful activity, who are
unproductive as consumers; an anomaly by measure that no
cultural precedent can indicate as to how ninety -year-olds are
supposed to live out their remaining decades of life. What with
all the diagnoses, medications by virtue of which the y
propagated their inco me, and if this is not concern for lawyers
then who shall protect the rights of the elderly? What is it that
makes life bearable for the individual for who m the meds and a
euthanasia certificate could put the mi sery behind?
Might we consider the arthritic pain experienced by the
elderly when their fingers are exposed to cold water; their
pocketbooks raided by cost of letting it run while waiting for it
to heat up, or so on and so forth; the pile of dishes can wa it !
Bathing encumbers us with a similar ordeal unless lives on the
equator whereby there's no need to heat the bathroom, and would
otherwise have to shiver fro m the freezing cold and run quickly
to the bed covering himself until the normative bod y
temperature is restored, so the bathing can wait! It's simply
beyond the means of the poor old man to heat his livin g
environment during the winter months.
In conclusion, old people can be retrained in the sociologica l
value of productive creativity, such as carri ed upon enjoyment
in the "life wish," pleasure achieved with the expenditure o f
much commitment to the beauty of human wonderment. Urba n
Aggravation and Global Catastrophe are edifices of frustratio n
that can be dis mantled by the purposefulness attached to
existence of an earth restored to its harmonious functions. We
could set up an econo mic syste m that will give the elderly a
means to earn merit to pay for the benefits they enjoy as part o f
a "Geriatric Cultural Association." The bitterness "known fro m
beyond the grave" will be transformed into me mory that lingers
in the creative productivity that outlasts time, the good feelings
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