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lnstead of going about
the business of healing
this sick society,
we're lulling it
to sleep with services. We
need to see
services for the
aged for what they really
are: novocame.
" they" and "we." And much of the
research that has been done by very
so phis ti ca t ed and well - trained
scholars has been
abotit
us and
for
us , not
with
us. There are increasing
numbers of us, we the old folks, who
would like to be collaborated with
in tha t kind of analysis. I see that
whole mentality as denying the
societal effects of aging: the eco–
nomic and political aspects tha t are
the basis for any kind of change tha t
will come our way.
Senillty
Much of what we call senility and
confusion is not organic brain dam–
age but induced by frustration, de–
spair, sense of loss, and invisibility,
which follow inevitably from loss of
role and status and place.
And much of what we call seni lity
is the result of gross neglect on the
30
part of the medica! profession. l 've
got arthritis in both hands. On¡::e
upon a time I hid my hands. Now J
flaunt them and 1 use tbem as an
exaggerated social comment on a
medica! profession that doesn' t
know what to do about arthritis–
and furthermore doesn' t care too
much, because of the "Wha t-ca n–
you-expect-at-your-age?" mindset.
Something as basic and funda–
mental as nutrition- undetected
malnutrition--will result in irrever–
sible brain damage
if
it's undiag–
nosed and untreated. Undetected
heart attacks (often painless), kid–
ney infections, other kinds of dis–
eases are physiological causes of
brain damage. Now there's a short
lead time between the possibl e
detection of those diseases and
the onset of confusion and brain
damage.
If there really could be sorne
wholesale etfort to get people in for
proper screening and testing before
it's too late, we could save ourselves
billions of doUars that a re now spent
on nursing homes and extended
care facilities.
Services for the
OId
We need to see services for the aged
for wbat they really are: novocaine.
They're not really changing any–
thing. They a re simply dulling the
pain of loss and deprivation a nd
aljenation and frustra tion and de–
spair. They' re making it a little eas–
ier to deal with, and they're letting
society off the hook. lnstead of go–
ing about the business of hea ling
this sick society, we' re lulling it to
sleep with services. And unfortu–
nately the misdirected efforts of
many of my peers have been to j ust
get more services.
On Youth
There
is
a new awareness on the
part of the young tha t they need
models. That we and they a re to–
gether in trus. That growing up is
just as hard and just as complicated
as growing old. And that the same
kind of ageism that makes old age a
lonely terror makes growing up
even in a youth-centered society a
pretty tragic business.
I like to think that we old folks
and the young who a re working
with us can be the advocates of the
people who are trapped in their
middle-years careers. You can sel–
dom ini tiate change without jeopar–
dizing your job and your family. But
we who are young and we who are
old have nothing to lose. We who
a re old have everything to gain by
taking risks. And I think of us in
this da ngerous new world as the
risk-takers and the initiators of
change, daring to
tillnk
preposterous
thoughts about a new society- dar–
ing to devise new models for our
human interactions. And 1 think we
can develop small working models
that challenge the system.
Gray Power doesn't mean using
our large numbers and our growing
political aw'areness exclusively for
our own self-interest or just to build
another self-serving group.
lt
seems
to be most inappropriate when one
is shaping oneself to meet one's
Maker. Jf you're going to be ac–
countable for the stewardship of
you r life before you die, it seems to
me you have to transcend your own
needs.
To close the ranks between the
old and the young is to me one of
the first orders of business. To close
the ranks between the rich and the
poor is another order of business.
(The old who a re rich a re seldom
deemed old. There's a very subtle
class distinction that is economic
and tha t separa tes the elderly rich
from the elderly poor and even from
the elderly middle class- because
the middle class become the near–
poor in their old age.)
We need to change our mindsets
and to rid ourselves of the kind of
cruelness that makes life so com–
plicated for all of us; to develop a
new awareness of our own selves
and our contributions, but also a
pu blic awareness. T he remem–
brance of the past-its pain, its
agony, its despair, its triumphs and
beauty- can be for society and for
each of us a new source of inner
strength, and a political tool as
we ll. l 've said to many elderly au–
diences: " Remember the past : the
oppression, the hard work, the toi l,
and let tha t remind you again of
the social justice that our socie ty
tosses aside. Never lose sight of
what justice is. And justice linked
with merey can turn this society
around."
O
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1978