Week 9: Moving Toward the Inevitable

This week hit very close to home for me mostly because I have been working with the elderly for twelve years on and off.  I think the elderly can teach us so much and I especially enjoy talking with the ones who are still alert and oriented.  I always ask the ones who have made it to their nineties with their minds and bodies still capable of great things what their secret to life is.

I met one gentleman who was nitey-seven years old while I was working.  I was walking down a corridor and watching some of the residents who were outside sitting on benches talking or looking at the flowers when I saw this elderly gentleman's leg fly up in the air and he suddenly dropped and rolled onto the grass.  I ran outside to see if I needed to call 911 and he got up off the ground with ease laughing at me.  He explained he had to practice his kicks to stay strong and he was practicing falling safely so he wouldn't injure himself if he really did have a fall.  Falls often times lead to hip fractures and other injuries that can be the downhill battle and beginning of the end for many older people.  This man was determined not to lose that battle.

That year he married another woman in the facility who was in her eighties.  He died about two years later and his new wife withdrew to her room for the next year, refusing to get out of bed stating she had too much "pain" and mourning over the loss of her new love.  Then one day she looked at me and said "I think I'll get up today, I'm on the market again".  I loved that zest for life the two of them had.  I am inspired by people who have that find joy life and the positive attitude that can carry over to so many aspects of their live's enhancing their own lives and the lives of those around them.

I am a firm believer that our health is directly related to our attitude and how we perceive the world around us.  One of the articles discussed the lack of preventative care and decreased amount of interest in enhancing the lives of the elderly because they've already lived a long life or the misconception that they have nothing left to offer.  If we looked at their wisdom and experiences as a great opportunity to learn rather than a burden we would only be helping ourselves in my opinion.