The Lesson Provided Us by Old People

The Lesson Provided Us by Old People

The hands of time play havoc on the human form, but we are all, regardless of age, one moment away from death’s door. Age is not a factor when the grim reaper comes calling.

Today, I want to focus on the old amongst us. Daily I visit my mother at an elder care facility. Incompetent doctors put her there.  We have many incompetent doctors in our healthcare system - an issue which fails to be addressed by our "poli-tricks". 

This is the case for several other patients who reside at the elder care facility. Some are lucky enough to become transient visitors - they come and they leave after a successful stay. Others have died.

We visit my mother just to keep her company and make her happy. When looking around one sees the myriad of old people sitting in wheel chairs. There are several young among the old as well. To see young adults mutilated and in a vegetable state is truly tragic. Their entire life will be one of misery and torment. At a certain point, the few that love the young will die, leaving these bewildered spirits in a virtual state of loneliness.  In contemplating their own demise they may have forgotten that death is ubiquitous.

The question that always seems to come to mind is why do we get old and die, and why are old people such a burden on the ones they love, and society in general?

When a child is born we do our utmost to care for that aspiring young adult. We feed, bath, toilet and cloth that child for as long as need be. We play, teach and continue to nurture that child until he or she becomes a young adult. Should the process not be the same for the one who approaches death? As parents we never stop worrying about the future or future success of our children. That’s quite an investment for parents to make, yet we never contemplate if that favour will ever be returned by our kids when we get old. Will our kids care and love us when we become one of life’s burden?

There must be a profound lesson for all to discern when we contemplate life and death, or do we even bother to think of life in that respect anymore?  

Getting old is a lonely affair. Your closest family members are just as old as you, and in most cases unable to pay you a visit, while the others may have likely passed away. The very young won’t bother interrupting their active lives to visit the old, so all that’s left are the sons and daughters. That option is only viable if the old had children or they have not predeceased the old.

Watching the old and infirm imprisoned by their wheelchairs and their inoperative cadavers is quite a learning experience. The old sit, but who knows what they are really thinking about. Death must be on their mind every moment of every day. Their tongues drool, their bodies warped, legs swollen, eyes staring into the unknown and their hair is in disarray. For the old who are still independent that sight might well as be a nightmare.

Many who are old pray that God take them as they sleep. No pain and punishment for anyone. A quick shock and burial, and the memories for the living will follow sometime later. 

We celebrate a person’s life via a requiem mass and many a kind word. Perhaps the family will share a meal together and afterwards the estate is shared amongst the salivating heirs. The once old and now dead become a footnote in history. Buried deep or cemented within four walls, all that remains to identify them is an engraved name with the dates of their birth and death.

But what is the lesson in the absurdity of life? What is the purpose of getting old? In my view, it tells a story of how consequential life really is. For the old are a page in the history of Mankind. While we avoid the old as much as we can, they are who we will hopefully become if God grants us a long life. 

How we care for the old is reflective of who we are as a society. More importantly it is a report card for our own soul. Have you noticed that the old say less and less as the years progress. They become great listeners and have very little to say. In most cases the old know that what they have to say will only be of consequence when the young get old. Their message is always lost in time. Their wisdom lost in our ignorance. Their silence a lesson for those who have much to say about nothing.

Thank you,
Joseph Pede