Youth Takes Action: Help Senior Citizens! from Shivali Pandya

 Youth Takes Action: Help Senior Citizens!

Every eight seconds, a new soul is brought to this Earth. The birth of this soul uplifts the spirits of loved ones, those who continue to care for their child until they are finally free to explore the world and pursue their endeavors. And from there, each and every one of them takes a different path - but ultimately go through the same stages of life. As this young soul eventually grows to become a senior citizen, they are left by themselves, during a time that they most need someone. They begin to feel lonely. Neglected. Isolated. They want someone alongside them, to hold their hand until their very last breath, to give them a purpose for the rest of their days; a reason to continue living.

Over the last few decades, senior citizens have begun to go unnoticed, becoming a secondary part of society. Due to the hectic lives that adults face from working and handling their children’s extracurriculars, they don’t have enough time to care for senior citizens. With adults not willing to take on the responsibility of caring for their loved seniors, the elderly are forced to spend a majority of their time at senior centers or live in nursing homes. In these situations, senior citizens don’t have the social and emotional support that they should be receiving and are instead faced with several drawbacks due to inadequate living conditions. 

One interviewer, Shivali Pandya, visited a local nursing home in South Brunswick and observed the elderly’s daily routine. According to what she noticed, many of the senior residents in the nursing home seemed to have no apparent purpose to their days. They were eating meals at improper times and getting very minimal sleep. Many of the senior citizens seemed fatigued and unhappy while completing daily activities. They constantly complained about missing their families and not being able to see them too often. The overall atmosphere in the nursing home was very dull, and while the caretakers were humble and generous, the gloom of the seniors created an upsetting mood in everyone’s days.

After noticing the disheartening behavior of the seniors, the interviewer decided to question them. When she asked the seniors how they liked living here, one man, well over the age of 70, said, “I’ve been living here for quite some time now. I absolutely hate it. I feel forsaken by my family. I only get to see them ever so often. At some point in time, I had hoped that my family would come back to me and welcome me into their home once again with open arms. That never happened. My family left me here to suffer all by myself, and threw me out of their home like a piece of garbage! They never thought about my feelings, my desires, my needs, what I truly wanted…” The man’s voice faded into the hue of silence and tears fell from his eyes.

This senior citizen was not the only person suffering from loneliness. According to a study conducted by the University of Southern California (UCSF), over 40 percent of seniors over the age of 65 experience loneliness on a day-to-day basis. This study went on to talk about how there was no treatment needed to cure this ongoing feeling. Spending enough time and talking to loved ones could make a lasting impact on getting rid of the elderly’s loneliness. 

Seniors do so much for society but are forgotten once at a certain age. They embody a true example of mother nature, one that has been through so much, but will continue to make sacrifices for the sake of humanity. The youth can do so much to help seniors overcome their loneliness, and instead cultivate an attitude of service and honor towards the elderly. Spending time with the elderly is a key to making them feel less lonely, and more appreciated. Visiting them often and taking time to talk to them can allow seniors to have something to look forward to on uneventful days. If the youth takes initiative in bringing importance to our seniors, the act of unity and togetherness will increase across society. Most importantly, seniors will be valued and recognized for their inherent dignity and worth through all stages of their lives.

Works Cited

“One Is the Loneliest Number: Combating Senior Isolation.” StoneGate Senior Living, 12 July 2017, stonegatesl.com/one-is-the-loneliest-number-combating-senior-isolation/#:~:text=More%20than%2040%20percent%20of.