The Elderly People in our Society

Posted on Nov. 29, 2010

Do you think elderly people are valued in your society or culture? 

Posted by : Jorge S.
    In a modern society we call it ageism or age discrimination this is an attitudes where people believe that older adults can be treated in demeaning ways. Many people note that as they grow older and as they reach certain age milestones., (age 65 being one of them), others begin to treat them differently. Their attitudes change . In many cases , being treat diffirently means being treated as "less"-less valued, less capable. We do not fully  our older people .Elderly people have many skills and much experience to offer us, if we choose to listen to what they have to say. Older people in our society are sometimes viewed as nuisance and not valued fo the wonderful people they are. The medical community can be very harsh on the elderly by using the justification that they have already lived their lives. They tend to ignore conditions that would never be ignored on a younger person. In comparison with other cultures.Some older people have lived through two world wars and have learnt to survive with very little. When whether you live or die hangs in the balance, as it did for people living in the war; you realise what is important in life. Whereas, today people live in a very materialistic society, the things many older people value cannot be brought. It begs the question, who is living in the real world.

Posted by : Eduardo C.

Elderly people are valued in our society or culture; they are mostly the reason for our existence. Elderly people have spent a lot of time in the world and have seen things and know things that the younger people of the world have not witnessed or do not understand such as the World Wars. Elderly people teach us; respect, manners and appreciation of things, whether or not they use the War as an example. I see every Elderly person I meet as a story teller, I love it when they tell stories whether it be about the War, first love, their siblings and the adventures they used to take growing up . Modern Society has different views on Elderly people, some people are with me; joint in their awe of them and some people see them as expensive and as a nuisance as they are living longer. We all see the negative feed on the news that Elderly People are living longer and are costing the tax payer, which then in turn gives Elderly People a bad name and people begin to see them in a negative light. Elderly people do not tend to get the respect they deserve from Modern society. Another example of this is mobility scooters which in Britain is a very controversial subject and issue. Younger people find them an irritation and a nuisance whilst the Elderly see them as a means of travel and their Social life. But in modern society I think that the good of a lot of people far outweighs the bad opinions, as there are so many charities to support the elderly and events for all the community to take part in so that the Elderly can be around younger people and families.

Posted by : Elvie C. 
   The elderly people have valued in our society or culture because of their opinions are acceptable. Their own opinions and  we see younger generations as a bad thing and as ungrateful for what they have, they also have their own views on Politics and the world and events that are taking place. Most people would agree, that materialism is transient and does not last. However, few people live their lives in this way. The acquisition of material goods is not bad but the importance we attach to them is not good or healthy. Like in China, the elderly are an active part of the family and often, the entire family live together. Our own culture has developed in such a way so this is no longer the norm but rather the exception. Older people are able to offer us years of experience in all manner of subjects. We can in fact save ourselves a lot of time and wasted effort by listening to the advice they would give, if asked. Yes, society moves on and things change but some things are universal. One of these things are children, they will always want to be loved, as we all do. They will always learn by the example we set them. The elderly can support us in numerous ways with regard to child rearing. Some people resent looking after their elderly relatives.. However, if your mother or father needs a little assistance with appointments, shopping, paying bills is that such a big sacrifice after all they have done for you.

Issues :

" With the arrival of progress, the women began to work; now the family is small, the money is not sufficient , people live longer ; and the older people have become the "excess weight" for this modern family. In the family, nobody has time to stay with the older people. If they are along, they need to pay a care worker and this person, a stranger, becomes company, and is responsible for this older and abandoned person."

by : Jorge S. 
Every society has values that are important to it and that sets it apart from others. Canadian or american society is no different from other societies in this respect. There are values that are important to them that may not be fully shared by other societies.Values include freedom, respect for cultural differences and a commitment to social justice and because of that freedom our decisions that we believe are not the best, I feel that the statement mostly happen in rich and wealthy western countries I was raise in asian tradional way of the filipino and chinese ,both have different culture and values but with the same attitude towards Elders. Having the family as the center and priority in life, I've seen several times, where even the youngest are taught to "Bless-(mano po in filipino)" their elders.

by : Eduardo C.
    This statement emphasize that when taking a look at the present generation of young people, one can instantly realize the great gap that now exists between the present generation and the past generations. Many changes have occurred affecting the behavior of young people found in our society. In the past, parent were so strict concerning the education of their children, In that these children were forced to wear long skirts for girls, because it was being considered correct by these religious parents and more especially by the community as a sin , not to  say a sacrilege , but when taking a close look at the way these youths now dress up, one cannot deny the fact that a great change has occurred. Girls are dressed up the way they like because parents have realized that there is no point being rude to their children, because of the consequences that resulted from these behaviors of parents. Hence to lay more emphasis on these consequences, it was realized that most of these youth ran away from their homes and got engaged in several activities such as prostitution for girls, drugs selling by boys. That’s my opinion  

by : Elvie C. 

After and before the Industrial Revolution young people of the present generation are more determined concerning certain issues as compared to their parents, like for example they are free to choose the person they want to spend the rest of their live with, as compared to the past whereby young children were forced to marry people who were either older than they were, or someone they did not love. Hence there has been great difference between the past and present generation who are more informed with the coming of televisions, in which sense civilize campaign are broad casted daily to reduced the death rate of the population, pregnancies and also the rate of abortions. If our mature citizens wish to contribute to society why should society/government prevent them from doing so. Older people are quite often more reliable than their younger counterparts and take less sickness leave. They are also more likely to take the part-time jobs they we cannot afford to take, as we need to work full time. These are some of many differences between after and before the Industrial Revolution.