Caring for elders

We are all aware of the seven ages of man. It has been said 'All the world is a stage and we are all merely players on it. So, each person in his lifetime plays several parts.

Our life is cyclic and our roles in life keep changing in a cycle. When we first appear on this Earth we have our loving parents to take care of everything we need. They continue to shower their love and affection throughout life; through thick and thin.

At every stage of our growth or development in life they are beside us. They take it as their bounden duty to see to everyone of our needs, from the beginning of our existence until we can take care of ourselves. However, when we are no longer dependent on our parents and can look after our own affairs, we forget what we owe our parents. Many do not look after even the basic needs of their parents who provided everything for them, when they were small. In some cases they are sent out of their homes, sometimes to end up in the streets. This can be the most inhuman act that challenges the claim that man is superior to all animals, in respect of his relations with one another.

The homes for the aged in most countries are full of desperate, lonely and miserable elderly people who are left in the lurch by their children.

Bereft of all their muscular strength to eke out a livelihood, all sorts of diseases only add to the sufferings and misery of these heroes of the past.

As aged people, they are in their second childhood. What they need is love and affection and the means to spend the rest of their twilight years in peace.

This is not a problem of the poor and downtrodden only. There are many old people living in palatial houses leading lonely lives. They have everything, but no one to love or care for them. Their children are living luxurious lives in foreign countries and even in the same land, but their old parents are left alone without any assistance. They cry in their old-age homes.

Social service organisations have identified the problems of the elders and have introduced several programmes to help them. But what they are doing is not enough. The children must realise their responsibilities towards their parents because they too are going to be parents some day. We reap what we sow. It is comforting to have a day for the elders to remember and pray for them.