Living Older

I just watched a movie for my health promotion of the aged class called "Living Older." It talked all about the fact that only a few generations ago, people were killed by infectious diseases and there were very few people dying of long, slow, terminal, chronic illnesses. Now, because of amazing technologies, people are living well into their 90s and there is a great financial and emotional burden as this group of people becomes quite a large segment of the population. The hour long video followed geriatricians and family members as well as a few sane 90 year olds and interviewed them on everything from living wills to economic burdens to termination of life, etc.

As I watched so many things ran through my head, heart, and soul that I knew I had to vent, so here goes:

-How sad that we even discuss termination as a possibility. What is our world coming to? There was a 94 yr old woman being interviewed who was still an active stock broker who said her son (who has her power of attorney) had come to her the other day asking her to sign a termination policy and she had refused-- I wanted to yell "HALLELUJAH" at this point!! Good for her! My generation has this stupid standard of productivity and if someone is not meeting that standard they are viewed as dispensable. Who are we to judge?!

-I was overwhelmed as I watched this movie at the lack of focus on what these people had done, who they had loved, who they had given life to, etc. It was all about the burden that they are right now to their families and the economy---heck, without them their family would be non-existent and our economy would be that much less.

-As I watched all these old, bed-bound people part of me begged the Lord not to ever let me get that way and then I heard a quiet voice say, "But think about all the time you would have with me?" That's so true. I sometimes get overwhelmed by how much time I want to spend with the Lord and can't because of everyday life and school. If I were bed-bound and had trouble interacting with the world around me because of hearing problems or parkinson's, etc. I would have all the time in the world to pray and talk to Jesus and enjoy my last chunk of time here on Earth. What a BLESSING it would be!

-The above bullet reaffirmed to me this, as well: Every day, minute, second, moment of life is given by the Lord and should be used for His glory and to do His will. The Lord's Kingdom CAN and WILL be furthered from the bedsides of the elderly of this nation!

-I want to go and hug my grandparents! I am so thankful for their sacrifices for me, I am so blessed that the Lord has left them on this Earth long enough for me to know them well, I am so happy that I get to LIVE with them this summer and get to know them BETTER, I am ETERNALLY grateful that they know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and view their life here on Earth as a mission field. I was overwhelmed with the joyful feeling that I have the PRIVILEGE of caring for them as they do get older and continuing to learn from them even in that stage of life.

-I was also overwhelmed with sadness for my one grandparent who has cut himself off from my family. Who will most likely die alone, seeing as he didn't even see fit to tell his son that he was having quadruple bypass a few months back. All I could think, is that I must continually try to reach out to him so that one day he will let my family back into his life.

-This video made me want to go hug my parents and tell them that no matter what, I will take care of them until the end. I am not a merciful person and my mom always jokes that she knows what child not to go to when she needs care when she's old and I want to run to her and tell her that I've had a change of heart and the I WANT that burden and that I'll be there because I DON'T WANT TO MISS A MOMENT OF LIFE with her!

-This video also made me thrilled that for my internship this summer I will be helping to develop a curriculum that examines the psychosocial effects of caring for a home-bound family member. I get to put all the emotions that I am feeling right now into action this summer and hopefully help caregivers see the joy that is in their job--The Lord's timing is AWESOME!

-Ironically a few years ago, a career counselor told me that I would be a great Home Health Nurse. I basically laughed it off because I thought I wouldn't be able to stand the lack of control of being in someone else's home and trying to perform my work, but strangely, it is all coming full circle now and perhaps the Lord is calling me to be a PA that goes into the homes of the elderly and serves them and their families there, who knows?

Whoa, sorry for the long post. I now have to go and write an extended response to that video before my class--should be easy, because it seems that I just did.