Fear Of Old Age ( Search for a Magic Cure, II )

Sri Ramakrishna

oi-Staff

By Staff

Friday, July 31, 2009, 15:55

There is widespread thinking that perhaps old people can be dispensed with. Dumping an old grandfather in a park because he has Alzheimer's disease has already become news. Taking care of the old is increasingly becoming a threat to the younger generation. In our present-day society, where money is the measure of everything, the elderly are looked upon as an economic liability and a social burden.

The prospect of loneliness often accompanies the process of aging. In fact, many old people, unable to bear this loneliness, commit suicide, and many are clamouring for the right to die rather than be forced to live with the indignities and hopelessness of old age. Aging also hardens the likes and dislikes of a person—his or her prejudices, perceptions, and value judgments that refuse to acknowledge the reality of aging.

Many people get extremely panicky when they become old. In their earlier years, they never paused to think of this inevitability and now they are emotionally ill prepared to accept the fact. They become fearful and depressed. Old age has become a widespread social problem in our time. Improvement in diet, technology, and medicine has increased the longevity of a person. People are living much longer than ever before. 'The Census Bureau anticipates that sixty-two million people, or almost one in five Americans, will be aged 65 and older by 2025,'4 and that number will continue to rise as the years go by. Leaders and thinkers are struggling to find a solution for the problem of old age.

There are some in the United States who are advocating the idea that there is a duty for the elderly to die, saying: 'It is a moral responsibility to make room for the young. As leaves fall from the trees in the fall, so old people have a duty to die... To have reached the age of, say, 75 or 80 years without being ready to die is itself a moral failing, the sign of a life out of touch with life's basic realities.'5 The author John Hardwig, in his article, 'Is There a Duty to Die?' advocates 'that there already is a legal right to refuse life-prolonging medical treatment' and claims that 'a duty to die can go well beyond that... There may be a fairly common responsibility to end one's life in the absence of any terminal illness.' Indeed, 'there can be a duty to die even when one would prefer to live.'

Read more of the condition of the elderly on the Next Page

About the author

Swami Adiswarananda

Swami Adiswarananda, the Minister-in-charge of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre, New York, USA, is a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He is a well-known thinker and contributes articles to various journals.

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