Senior Citizens, Think Of Ourselves As New Ethnic Class

Here is the background of this thread:

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What about taking up what should be a more pressing concern with us senior citizens?

Let us all senior citizens think of the need for us to organize ourselves into a new ethnic class, in which the healthy active and wealthy members will take care of their indigent, frail, and close to demise colleagues.

I am planning to start to a new thread on that idea.

#11 Jess Santorio, Yesterday at 12:51 PM​

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After searching for the best or the appropriate board to put this thread in, I decided that it can be here in Faith & Religion, because my idea has to do with senior citizens gathering together to found for themselves a society similar to the religious orders and societies in the Roman Catholic Church.

The original inspiration of the followers of Jesus Christ was exactly to organize themselves into a what is called a common life community, which is also the utopia promised by the ideologues of communism as an economic and political system for humans.

But my idea is not that candidates to this society be all Christians, but that anyone with the knowledge that they have the inevitable situation of facing sooner than later their earthly demise, that they should put all their affairs in order, in most particular what is called their spiritual status.

So, candidates can be of any religion that is in its core: concern for the existence that should come post this side of the grave.

What about Satanists?

From stock reading, I tend to see with Satanists, they are not into atheism, or more correctly, they are not into no religion whatsoever, only they think that Satan could be a better God for them, than the Christian God.

So, what do you folks say?

 

I say, I don't understand what you are saying or wanting to do.

 

We have an organization here for senior citizens, so many of them. But one dominant group has created a political party called Senior Citizens and it has won 2 seats in congress. Those 2 congressmen are the direct representatives of the senior citizens in congress. However, to consider senior citizens here as an ethnic group, that would be a bit far fetched because the seniors here cannot be in one united front due to their political orientation. As evidenced by the posts in Facebook, I find the Filipinos very politicized particularly the senior citizens who are practicing partisanship when it comes to political issues.

 

Well, this is what I want to say to you folks here.


This thread is an invitation to fellow senior citizens who are living by themselves alone or with a spouse, and when this spouse dies, then the surviving partner is left all alone living by himself.

That is my situation, and when I look around, in my own country there are plenty of senior citizens living one alone or a pair man and wife alone by themselves.

How come they are not living with a child’s family in this child's home, or a child grown up living in with the surviving couple in their the couple's still extant home?

and also the child's or children’s home when these latters have not yet took up living away from their parents.

Why is a senior citizen all alone or a couple man and wife all alone living by themselves? Because their close kins are not keen on living with them, or they the senior citizens are not keen on living with their close kins, e.g., one of their children.

Next, when children are still dependent on their parents, parents and the state invest so much material and social and moral (as distinct to material) resources on them, until they are finally capable of living independently of their parents' support, by themselves.

At this point in time parents are no longer working, no longer earning, they are living on their savings.

Does the state support senior citizens the way the state supports children all the years, when children also get support from their parents? And do children support their parents in old age?

The brief answer to both questions is NO.

Now, it is more costly to live by oneself than together under the same roof or in the same common ground like in a compound, holding the individual simple separate homes of each senior citizen or/and each senior citizen couple.

A condominium building can take the place of such a compound, and less costly to live in. and there is much savings in maintenance of each simple home.

Outside the simple homes or small but adequate condominiun home-unit, there are common amenities.

I guess everyone gets the picture I am trying to describe here.

You will tell me that what I am describing is an old folks home, essentially.

Yes, that is correct, but unlike the old folks home, we own the home itself and operate it ourselves for our own habitation i.e. living space; while the old folks homes are owned and operated by business-minded persons, i.e. for profit.

When we live together in our home for our own habitation needs and desires and pleasure and leisure, it is much cheaper for sure than living in a commercially owned and operated old folks home.

What do you folks here say?


Now, it just comes to mind that what I am talking about is that we live in a hotel with all kinds of common amenities, like dinning hall, swimming pool, etc., but in addition a clinic with 24/7 within a telephone call access to a physician doctor or all the time to a resident nurse.

And we own and operate the hotel ourselves.

 

What you are describing would be a nightmare for me. There are plenty of such places if that's where you want to live. I wouldn't mind a stand alone condo or such if I get to the point I can't take care of this place. A group home is not for me.

 

Kind of sounds like this movie I saw....


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Exotic_Marigold_Hotel

 

You notice that we are all cognizant about the last years of life when we really cannot take care of ourselves, because we are bed-ridden.

Or we are afflicted with an illness that requires others to take care of us, like paralysis from a stroke, or a lingering stage of cancer which inflicts on us all kinds of disabilities.

And what about Alzheimer's disease, President Reagan lived many years with Alzheimer's disease, good for him that he had his wife 11 years younger than him, to take care of him, Nancy did not just put him in an old folks nursing home until the man died.

http://www.newsweek.com/nancy-reagan-coped-ronald-reagans-alzheimers-disease-president-434187
…so began what Nancy called her husband's "long goodbye," which was, for her, 10 years of exacting caregiving, hurried lunches with friends, ever-briefer phone calls to the outside world, hours spent with old love letters and powerful advocacy for new research into cures for the disease that was taking Ronnie from her.
…

She stood by him, rarely leaving his side for more than an hour or two. The story of her devotion over the last decade is in a way grim and unrelieved, but also tender and loving. The woman once mocked as a Lady Who Lunched showed more true grit than any cowboy Ronald Reagan ever played.
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Yours truly is 79 years old but healthy active and without any diseases or disabilities, and I take care of myself completely, still do everything by myself as when I was in my twenties.

I have lived now for over six years all alone by myself, but I am concerned about how I am going to fare when I reach the years of disabilities of all kinds which will keep me in bed.

I am keen to read about the concern of folks who are like me, still healthy, active, and completely capable of doing everything by myself, their concern if any about their last years with disabilities which can continue for many years like lasting for ten years or more.

 

You seem to be doing well for your age....are you concerned about your situation? I'm not understanding your posts.

What are you looking for?

 

"I have lived now for over six years all alone by myself, but I am concerned about how I am going to fare when I reach the years of disabilities of all kinds which will keep me in bed.

I am keen to read about the concern of folks who are like me, still healthy, active, and completely capable of doing everything by myself, their concern if any about their last years with disabilities which can continue for many years like lasting for ten years or more."

I like to invite old folks to join me in founding a community where we put our material resources together, and the still healthy and active members will take care of those who are bed-ridden.

And all that out of Christian charity for each other.

 

I've lived alone for almost 13 years since my husband died. For a few years I had an SO but not many.

I guess when I can't take care of myself, I'll move in with my daughter.

 

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I've lived alone for almost 13 years since my husband died. For a few years I had an SO but not many.

I guess when I can't take care of myself, I'll move in with my daughter.
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Have you talked with your daughter about your plan?

 

Yes, I have.

 

Hello @Jess Santorio, I owned and operated a commercial and industrial janitorial service for more than fifteen years, and we had two client's that ran just such places as you describe. The units were small, and there were at least two nurses and a doctor available 24/7. They had drivers and transportation to get to and from wherever they wished to go.

I paid a lot of attention to these places, mainly because I didn't want to help perpetuate warehousing seniors. This was something Texas had a bad problem with 25 years ago, and I want no part of it. That's also the reason I home cared my parents, and I helped with my inlaws.

So what you are describing is already out there. You just need to find one that suits you.

You didn't say where you are from, (or I just didn't see it), so it is hard to give you any tips on finding such a place.