Sometimes business can be a too impersonal undertaking. I was reminded of a story told by a friend about a very huge company which does not have any sense of corporate social responsibility. When it made profit as its central motivation in the expansion of its business, it divorced itself totally from the society where it belongs. In the end, such company suffered bankruptcy, that all its assets were literally drained.
I can compare the situation of this piteous business empire with an old person who once experienced the beauty of youth, only to find himself desolate and alone upon reaching old age who terribly needs love, understanding and elderly care.
We have no conscious memories of being there—or leaving but people who render nursing home services know how old people cope up with the pain of getting there. And while the cruel game of giving up what we love in order to grow must be replayed at each new stage of development, this is our first, perhaps hardest renunciation. We acknowledge a time of harmony, wholeness, unbreachable safety, unconditional love, and a time when that wholeness was irretrievably rent. But old age seems to be the tearing part which breaks the harmony, wholeness and safety.
Unloved and condescended to and not listen to and viewed as a separate species, the old are set apart and often ignored. For we live in a society where youthfulness is worshipped and the old are abhorred. And as we grow old and society counts us out of the game of life, it can teach us to share in its rejecting perceptions.
You can at least show your care to your old folks; find a nursing home for them which will provide their needs. Let them feel your love and care.
