Some time ago, an aged man was called an old man. Nowadays, to avoid offense, he is called a senior citizen. In most developed societies, adults are declared to be "old" when they reach the ages of 60-65. Old age means ages nearing the average longibity of, human beings and thus the end of the human lifecycle. Older people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes, and sickness than other adults. When we are cautious not to call an aged man old, we are saying that being old is shameful. Why do we think that old is shameful, but boy is not? Who wants to show respect to old people does not try to find an alternate way of showing their age. If we truly believe that being old is not shameful, we should not object to calling old people old.

Safety and security of the elderly, especially those living alone are a concern. Not only to themselves, to their families and to the community in general too. Due to various reasons older persons are at times constrained to live away from their families and loved ones, which makes them particularly vulnerable to safety and security hazards. Due to their physical weakness and lonely status, senior citizens are easy targets for criminals - especially in urban surroundings. They are more likely to be exploited by the unscrupulous. At times they are the butt of anti social behavior - verbal abuse, vandalism, unprovoked assault, abusive behavior intended to cause fear or distress. They could be victims also of threats from their own relatives, domestic help or servants, landlords, tenants, strangers, thieves or intruders. They are often exposed to accidents or mishaps even within the house. Living alone can increase feelings of vulnerability and anxiety about personal security and of the home environs. Consequently, it is necessary for the family and the community - as also the old folks themselves, to be aware and to worry about these issues; to know the solutions, and take possible precautions that would ensure security. Loneliness comes to people who do not prepare for a good retirement. We must all carry some type of burden or occupy ourselves with something of interest. If you are lonely, Keeping busy with eagerness whatever is in front of you doing it: write letters, visit people, fix something that needs to be fixed, take up a hobby, start collecting something of value, become amazed and fascinated by everything around you. Keep busily involved in everything that gets your attention--every little thing and every middle-sized thing can soon grow into big significant projects. The happiest person means the busiest person. If one is lonely, one should involve oneself in community affairs. Many times when people retire they find themselves in a burned-out condition. Some have attitude, just to sit in a chair, pet dog, stare out the window, or watch TV. This kind of mental attitude sets a person up to be lonely. And, if a person continues to be a hermit, there will come a time when an incurable loneliness will be the order of the day. Strive to cure the loneliness of someone else will cure one's own. How about holding the hand of some of those people who made no provisions for old age. There are myriads of people who need help, find them and help them. Avoid escapes to evade loneliness, avoid day dreaming, sleeping too much, and watching too much TV. When When one do dream dreams, make them possible, obtainable, and something you can work on. Dream magnificent goals for the future and start to bring them about. TV can be a life-saver on occasions; but to mesmerize your brain in a constant dose of radiation from the idiot box is a sure-fire way of becoming depressed and lonely. Too much sleep can be a powerful escape mechanism. We can find ourselves fleeing from guilt, responsibility, failure, and hopelessness. To run away through sleep is just like running away with alcohol which only makes matters worse. Fight the tendency to sleep too much as if it were a demon from hell. Fight unhappiness with a direct attack of the will-choose to be happy in spite of the circumstances. Ask yourself the question, "How does my unhappiness change my situation?" The answer will be, "It doesn't, it just makes it worse." So make things better for yourself by choosing to be happy. Fight depression by talking out your problems. If alcoholics can join a group and get control of their drinking, you can join a group and get control of your depression. Talk to friends, a counselor, or your pastor, and keep talking until you find yourself maintaining an attitude of optimism. Read lots of good books, if you can; if you can't, have someone read to you. Make a list of good things that you read about and then try to memorize some inspirational quotation and share it with whoever comes your way. Collect good thoughts to share with those people who come your way, and soon others will search for your companionship like the proverbial guru of the mountain. Going to church in one of the best remedies of curing loneliness, Loneliness is often caused by wanting people to do something for us. When we do things for other people, we are never lonely. Self-referenced thinking often leads to a barrenness of spirit that breeds discontent and loneliness. Think up, think out, toward people, think around, toward all the exciting things of life; and avoid thinking too much about yourself, and the problem of loneliness will disappear.

Income: Senior's first need

Love and care are necessary, but what senior citizens require most today are funds to meet their needs of food, clothes, shelter and medicines. If they have their own money, their children won't throw them out. Today expenses being high, sons find it difficult to make ends meet, and so take recourse to throwing out or neglecting their parents when they age.


Adopt a grandparent for your child

Age is not the only factor that makes us crotchety. We are so sad and lonely that our impaired vision and loss of hearing irritates the ones whom we brought up with loving care. Our inability to satisfy monetary expectations provokes division and contempt. What could be more painful than to feel unwanted by our own offspring. How can they forget that we, "gave our yesterday for their today." These are bitter and hard realities.
Adopt a grandparent for your child must sound fantastic or perhaps absurd, but I wish that as childless couples adopt children, working couples should adopt an elderly male or female so that their children can have surrogate grand parents and are not left to the mercy of servants. There may be many who would function without any remuneration if only we got consideration, a kind word and a little sympathy even from strangers who would not deride us for lapses of memory and say we are pretending.

WE the people of the planet should have consciousness that the elderly people are none but we ourselves, which we all have to face some day as a part of life. So what lesson we give our child he also will follow that to treat me during our time.