Let elderly people live their lives with dignity

I WELCOME the well-balanced report by Jennifer Hough (January 2) under the heading “Increase in elderly experiencing age apartheid”.

This report rightly points out “that a growing number of elderly are experiencing urban isolation and a form of age apartheid.”

Psychologically, our society is geared to the young. Movies, sports, fashions, and advertising all stress the importance of youth, and we give the elderly less of a role to play than any other older generation ever had. At the same time the lifespan is increasing. This extra time can be years of tragedy unless younger people help their elders overcome the frustration of old age.

No older person likes to have his/her life planned for them, whether their children tuck them away in an old folks home or put them in a gilded cage. Where an elderly person lives is not the major consideration. Making him/her know they are valued is all that counts.

The priority should be to ensure that elderly people live out their lives with dignity and independence.

Even if it doesn’t face you right now, remember you are going to be “an old person” yourself someday. Finally, may the report of Ms Hough, on this social issue, bring a ray of hope and sunshine into the lives of many elderly persons living alone in isolated and rural parts of the country. God grant it so.

Cllr Noel Collins

Midleton

Co Cork