Senior Citizens in Post-Modern Society

by Jasvinder Sharma
February 23, 2011

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1301/senior-citizens-in-post-modern-society

Till recently unusual increase in number of oldies was thought to be a problem only of the developed countries, but now it is becoming the problem of developing countries too. These struggling nations have not devised any effective methods to redress the agonies and sufferings of their fast growing older generation.

Life expectancy age has increased significantly and average birth rate has come down. A decade back, 9 percent of world's population was in the age group of above 60 years old but now it has shot up to 16 percent and by the year 2025 it is projected to be more than 20 percent of total population. This large group of aged and non-productive people is going to create complications for the whole world if no proper planning is initiated now.

The rise in the number of those who are old and are non-productive and those who do not generate any hope immediately raises an alarming economic problem. It is also a social and cultural problem. Who is going to provide support to them and how? The pertinent question is how to set apart billions of bucks to keep such a large inactive force in healthy and happy condition?

Apart from food and shelter, the old people need care and medicines. They also crave love, affection and tender care. They would like to interact, to be heard, to be visible, and they would like a bit of space of their own and they would like to have a constructive and creative role to play in society.

They expect regard and involvement. They don't want to be pushed towards the margin. They don't want that the society should ignore them just because their bodily prowess has diminished.

Among the old, the problems of old women, single, divorced and widowed are different from those of old men. The problems of the disabled and senile are of a specials kind. The society doesn't even realize that a serious human, social and economic problem is at hand which needs immediate specialized attention.

The western response to the problem of increasing senior people has been liberating the old from various kinds of filial responsibilities, making them economically as viable as possible and handing over the problem of health and care to specialized institutions. This has become a mechanical system without a human touch.

In USA for instance, apart from schemes of pension, insurance and retirement benefits, the health care of the aged is linked with social security system. Mobile home service for the aged has been devised in order to lessen the pressure on institutions and costly nursing homes. But when it comes to love, warmth and feelings, these institutions can't do much.

In developing nations the problem is far more complex. A large number of people live in rural areas. Migration from rural to urban areas is substantial, which creates problems for the aged at both ends. If children go to urban settlements leaving behind their aged people in the rural areas, that creates one set of problems, and if the old are taken along, it creates another set of problems.

The elderly form one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. Police files report skyrocketing crime rates against them. Hardly any day goes but without a horror story in the media about the plight of elderly parents – abandoned or abused.

Police records reveal that the anxiety is not unfounded. The number of elderly persons seeking protection in Delhi has jumped three times in the last three months. They fear goons, builders and even their own children. The Mumbai police helpline for senior folks gets over 80 calls a day – from medical to travel information, simple advice to friendly chats in order to ease loneliness and seclusion.

The elder persons invariably report that their children have turned against them once the family property has been signed over. Family where everyone works turns cruel towards the idle older persons at home. They lock up helpless Alzheimer's patients in the house and leave for the day lest these oldies may not get lost. Neighbors sometimes call in to report well dressed old people suddenly living in the neighborhood park after being tossed out of their home.

The growth of the urban population and urban town planning has been haphazard, and there are acute shortages of housing and other civic facilities. The health system is inadequate and there is hardly any specialized agency focusing on the old. There is no infrastructure available to train people taking care of the old.

An overwhelming number of the aged people live with their sons. There are very few who decide to live with their daughters. Sons are the first choice for the old age care and sons are often called as old age insurance for which property would be transferred to them as premium.

In a study it was shown that the old were dissatisfied with the care and service they get at their children's home despite that a majority of the old are bound by the bonds of reciprocal respect and love, irrespective of complaints about accommodation, food and care.

Time is changing. The elderly are talking about their lack of access to money, work, health, mobility and leisure. They are narrating how it feels to 'talk to walls all day long', or 'be a burden on their own children' or of disrespect and neglect that make old age a disease.

The senior citizens have started walking out of their own homes in search of a journey that promises peace, joy and celebration of life with a group of people who share the same boat of life. They are talking about the disobedient younger generation, of children splitting responsibilities, separating their Moms and Dads, taking care of parents 'by rotation', pushing their parents to smaller rooms. And they blame it all on the 'changing scenario and value system that exists everywhere' and not just their home alone.

It is not that only people from rural areas suffer when they come and stay in the cities; even the well-to-do and educated people in the city in their nineties are neglected and ignored by their people. The gap between the generations had widened much.

The post globalization generation has not really experienced a great deal of hardship. They don't have more that one or two brothers and sisters. They got what they demanded from their parents. Their parents raised heavy loans for their children's education and high living. The present generation is free from those troubles which their parents suffered when they were young viz. giving all their salary to parents so that dowry can be arranged for their sisters or education can be arranged for their brothers.

The new generation is free from any damn care or worry. They live in present. They shop in big Malls, patronize private schools and hospitals and they relax in gym and spas. They want to be rich and they are willing to work hard for it. Careers especially women's are blooming. As life becomes busier, there is less time available with them to look after their home and their seniors.

It can be tougher for those who are facing dual pressure of 'sandwich generation' – raising younger children and caring for the ageing parents.

Dissatisfaction was greater among those old persons who were fully dependent on their supporters. In rural areas the families of male children provide care and support to the aged. They are bound by traditional norms of respect and love. But now the aged are getting increasingly marginalized.

In urban area the problem has become more alarming. Community support is weak and the kin network is diffused over a large area and relatively ineffective. The entire responsibility of support and care of the ageing falls on the male children with whom the ageing person lives.

The families in urban areas are becoming nuclear and smaller, as a result there are a few people available in the house to provide care and comfort to the aged. Those who are available are torn apart by the stresses of urban living. Women too in urban areas are now working outside the family. They have fixed schedules of work and have other pressures on them. Children are loaded with their studies.

The oldies now can choose good old age homes now. Besides large caution money, they have to go for interviews and a strict selection procedure. Why screening? The logic is – because affluent retired people prefer to live with likeminded people.

Old age homes are places where people are made feel comfortable. Convenience is the watchword here now. Forget old age homes with depressing dark rooms, peeling wall paints, unimaginative food and curfew on going out. Now we have old age home far better than good hotels.

More and more old people are finding it difficult to pull on with their children. The home that they built with lifetime toil has turned stranger and hostile to them now. This is the picture of harsh reality of modern times and modern society. The children can well afford to provide some space for their old parents in their own residence. It is neither the money nor the riches that the old people want from their children. What they need most in the winter of their lives is the loving touch and the comfort of the company their near and dear ones.

It has become deep rooted malaise of our sick modern society. Gone are the days when family bonds, respect to the elders, compassion for the old and infirm and values like these were highly rated in India. These values have become obsolete.

In modern times, the meaning of the word family has shrunk down to one's wife and children, where parents, grandparents uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters and cousins and nephews/nieces have no place.

If the old people are fortunate enough, their sons and daughters-in-law might find for them a place or a room in some old age home the not so lucky ladies are left to fend for themselves. Sometimes some old people if they are themselves rich enough opt for the old age home after being fed up with the perpetual neglect and insult heaped upon them by their children.

But one thing is certain. Whether the children desert their old parents or the parents themselves decide to live separately away from the company of their children and grand children, it is the heart of the old people that bleeds most. It is they who feel the pangs of separation most. The old persons don't need money or luxury. They just need a shoulder to lean.

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