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Caring For The Aged, A Vocation - VID
26 May 2008
In our youth-oriented society, the elderly often feel overlooked - and many actually are.
Getting old is not something most people look forward to. Today, there are whole industries devoted to slowing or even reversing the ageing process.
The average life expectancy in Sweden and Australia is just over 80 years; in Germany, Finland and the UK it is just over 78 years. Most of us in the developed world probably consider a long life to be somewhere between 85 and 90 years of age.
Yet much of post-modern Western culture has a natural pre-disposition against the aged. This is fed by consumerist marketing and a culture of celebrity that worships youthfulness. Some older people now claim that this general inclination has been transformed into a positive discrimination, which they have called ageism.
Yet some young people see caring for the elderly as a calling, a voication. Their stories are often inspirational. One such story is featured in the clip above. It comes from the EDGES with Mal Fletcher programme 'The Anti-Ageing Industry'. You can watch the entire programme at www.edges.tv.
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