Elderly Farms

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Keep at it

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Out in the barn

Having arrived too early at this point of my life with a hearing disability and a poor economy in which senior workers have difficulty finding employment even without a disability, I am stuck with intellectual capacity and experience with not much to do.

I look down the road and see where my Father and Mother-in-Law are at their advanced stages, one 86 and the other 96. They each took different paths and ended in the same sort of places, retirement centers designed for the elderly with private residences, communal dining rooms, built-in church, exercise and activity rooms, places to walk around inside and out, quick access to medical assistance, security and oversight. That isn’t cheap living, and many people could not afford such well-to-do places.

Looking past, Mother died young. She told me many times that she didn’t want to grow old. She got sick and died, but not without a fight to live a little longer. She was physically fit, but cancer took her before it was discovered in time. For Grandparents, Grandfathers died young and so did one Grandmother. With proper attention to healthcare, diet, and exercise, they may have lived longer. Without that, they went the way of their ancestors and shortly after retirement from work, they passed on.

So, I contemplate, what is the point of living longer if all that you have to do is eat macaroni and cheese and play Rummy Cube?

There is what I call “elderly farms,” all over the nation and more will surely be built to house the burgeoning population of people like me.

I can follow the herd to the barn, or I can try a different path.

First of all, it is wasteful to permit wisdom and knowledge to go to uncultivated. Intellectual capacity in America is not in surplus and tapping the wisdom and capabilities of willing and able seniors is a worthwhile endeavor. For one thing, they can continue to earn an income that can offset the pressure on Social Security and healthcare costs.

Applying senior knowledge and experience can reduce risk and add assurance to new initiatives when they are incorporated smartly as part of the modern workforce.

So rather than developing elderly farms, maybe more attention should be given to developing “Wisdom Warehouses” instead accompanied by a means of accessing resident capabilities.

http://www.cepr.org/pubs/bulletin/meets/416.htm