Two Sides of a Coin - Part I
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Two Sides of a Coin - Part I
Living on borrowed time without a thought for tomorrow.." John Lennon
“You know that old trees just grow stronger, and old rivers grow wilder every day.” - John Prine
Yesterday I was watching the movie, “Awakenings.” It is based on the neuroscientist, Oliver Sack’s, 1973 memoir with the same title. The film tells the story of Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a neurologist who takes a job at an institution where the “chronic” survivors of the 1917–1928 encephalitis lethargica are housed. These patients were children when they became ill. After the acute stage of the disease, they sank into catatonic states.
Thirty years later, Dr. Sayer began to figure out the cause of their condition (the depletion of neurotransmitters in the brain caused by the encephalitis) and administers L-Dopa. The results of Dr. Sayer’s treatment are astonishing. One by one these catatonic patients awaken and are shocked and sometimes horrified to realize they are no longer children.
This got me thinking. Why do we cherish newborns and young children, but warehouse the elderly when they require similar care? The elderly may need assistance, but they are also the repositories of lifetimes of information and experience. Literally.
I think you all will have thoughts to share about this, so I will wait to weigh in, but the song I’d like to share to start the discussion is John Prine’s “Hello in There.” Let’s listen.
John Prine has captured something raw and elemental in this song, so let’s talk about it.
Why we are so afraid of aging?
Why do we see wrinkles and shudder?
Why aren’t we interested in the stories and experiences older people have to share?
Can you share some of your experiences? I know that as a child, I couldn’t wait to grow up so that people would take me seriously. Then, once I was an adult, there was always another degree, license, or certification I was expected to have to be job-worthy. It’s notable that each of these credentials made someone else money, which probably had a lot to do with it. Now that I am older, my gray hair and wrinkles seem to make people hesitant to hire me.
Have you had any elderly people who have played a significant part in your life? If so, what did you learn from them?
And, since if there is one thing we have learned from kids it’s that we must laugh and play as well as ponder life’s mysteries, here are Mary Cook and her best friend Marina, who are favorites on Gogglebox:
And because we know laughter keeps us young:
Let the discussion begin!
Jena
Copyright 2021 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.
Two Sides of a Coin - Part I
I remember The Awakenings and how both uplifting and sad the story is, so I followed the links and as I finished reading was reminded that we are always, always sharing the world with epidemic diseases of various virulence and deadliness. I remember when I was a kid, there was always cholera somewhere, and it turns out there still is, and because of where it occurs, it is still very deadly: https://www.outbreakobservatory.org/outbreakthursday-1/1/16/2020/large-cholera-outbreak-on-record-continues-in-yemen - just puts perspective on covid, not belittling it, but putting in context how incredibly safe life has been during my lifetime.
America is collectively a "young soul" nation. We glorify the young, have a fascination with attempting to stay as youthful as possible through means at times medieval in my humble opinion( putting botulism in ones face comes to mind). As I grow nearer to 60, I often think of my grandmother's and how they naturally aged with beauty and not vanity. I think of everything they went through which was quite a lot and still had laughter in them. I think of how I had the delight of being a child and asking my Grandmother Helen Marie Morrow Williams so many questions about her life on the farm as a girl. Later through letters I found I learned about other aspects of her life. America has become obsessed about keeping up with not only the Kardashians but with things that are false. My mother has dementia and lives in a home. Even though her memory is no longer functional others in the home do have their memories and I enjoy hearing their stories. My father is 86 and I ask him what Washington, DC was like in the 60's and what NYC was like in the 50s.
I think it is up to those of us who care and give a shit to ask those who are elderly about their lives. Because their lives look nothing at all like the life we are all living now in America. Life was hard. But in a way from what I gather from my fathers stories and my Grandmother's stories from long ago that life had a sweeter innocence about it that has been lost. I sometimes panic that I am getting older because I dont want to miss out on anything. Sometimes I get sad because my friends who are older than myself have died. But those who only think babies and the young are precious are people I avoid. One of my best friends was a man named Alan Webber who got shot in the head on Normandy Beach on DDay a week before his 20th bday. He recovered in England for a year and had THE most delightful intriguing stories of living in Paris in attic apartments and being engaged to French girl if Chateau nobility whose heart he broke because being around maids and servants and the filthy rich unnerved him along with the staunch catholism( he was a protestant Yankee from Connecticut). Sigh...I could go on and on...I have always loved older people and have gloried in their life stories. I wish my mother did not have Dementia because I have so much I want to ask her that I will never know. And it saddens me. Viva the Elderly!