In The Twilight Hours
By Alternative Channel's Cody Larocque
Is not aging a natural stage in any living things life? Why then should we hide our parents and grandparents away from the world in which they used to live in to cold and sterilized holding houses? Which essentially serve as a place to store them until they pass. This very act is not natural. Does one place the old mighty oak into a segregated part of the forest until it succumbs to disease or old age? Certainly not, instead the older trees provide both protection while alive and essential nutrients in its gentle passing, back into the soil. So to do our aged provide for us wisdom and experience of things both past and present.
How does this tie into sustainability? Well firstly our seniors can set up tiny communes in which farming and light agricultural work can contribute to even if in a small way to world food shortages. Possible vegetation they could cultivate for its social impact are hemp, rice, potatoes and fruit to be dried and sent to struggling nations. It is a natural tendency to become altruistic and wish to leave the world in a better condition then when we entered it. Of course on top of the philanthropic outcomes, the elders them selves would benefit from the continued mental and physical activity which would keep both mind and body young, hence keeping the ill health associated with a sedentary latter life at bay. The fresh air free from disease of the clustered retirement home would also detoxify the body. This holistic approach would of course have to be back by medical health care just incase an elder became drastically sick.
Our elderly, should not have to feel thrown away or ostracized from society, in fact in other parts of the world elderly are viewed simply as a regular citizen who just happens to be older than the majority of the population. Many continue to work and contribute to society. In both Europe and Asia, the elderly often continue to have meaningful lives by continuing to work and participate in the community in which they live. Life is not a linear progression but a cycle in which each phase must be lived and valued for its experience and inherent wisdom which it grants.
Photo By: gumuz, courtesy of Flickr.com
Posted by on 10/31 at 04:04 PM