Please be kind to older people

[Suicidebydeath]

I'm not old myself, but plenty of people are. The older someone gets the worse mental and health conditions tend to become.

The place where I used to live, there was an older man who used to come by the front of the house every morning or so and feed the cats if they were there. They walked a dog sometimes and I thought it was adorable. There was an older woman who had let herself into the front garden and was perusing the ornaments. I'd heard her somehow from the bedroom and went outside because I thought I heard a knock at the door (I had a doorbell), apparently she had just lost her husband so I ignored the odd situation and when she asked if she could have some of the stone ornaments and plastic flowers from the front of the house to make a memorial, I said she was welcome to them. It must suck to lose your partner after so long, it sucks to me losing someone after just relatively short times.

Older people seem nice in general, although it could also be because I've had too many negative experiences with people when younger that makes the difference more stark.

 

[makethepainstop]

We old fogeys have lived long enough to know many things, that youth does not. Yet the young seldom listen. Sad really.

 

[Pluto]

Yet the young seldom listen. Sad really.

True, though we didn't listen when we were their age, either. Youthful overconfidence can be an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. How to know better when you don't know better?

Older people seem nice in general

Good on you for speaking up like this. Anybody who is willing to defend a demographic that they themselves do not belong to deserves credit by my book.

 

[makethepainstop]

True, though we didn't listen when we were their age, either. Youthful overconfidence can be an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. How to know better when you don't know better?


Good on you for speaking up like this. Anybody who is willing to defend a demographic that they themselves do not belong to deserves credit by my book.

But I am old!

 

[lofticries]

I feel sorry for the old couple. But at least they were able to find eachother in their lifetime. Most people never get that privilege.

And yes I agree it's good to be kind to the elderly.

 

[Lost Magic]

We should strive to be kind to everybody, especially the vulnerable and the elderly.

 

[JustSwingingTheD]

I'm not old myself, but plenty of people are. The older someone gets the worse mental and health conditions tend to become.

The place where I used to live, there was an older man who used to come by the front of the house every morning or so and feed the cats if they were there. They walked a dog sometimes and I thought it was adorable. There was an older woman who had let herself into the front garden and was perusing the ornaments. I'd heard her somehow from the bedroom and went outside because I thought I heard a knock at the door (I had a doorbell), apparently she had just lost her husband so I ignored the odd situation and when she asked if she could have some of the stone ornaments and plastic flowers from the front of the house to make a memorial, I said she was welcome to them. It must suck to lose your partner after so long, it sucks to me losing someone after just relatively short times.

Older people seem nice in general, although it could also be because I've had too many negative experiences with people when younger that makes the difference more stark.

Old people are on average nicer than the younger ones, because they are mentally/physically weaker and often at the mercy of the youngsters, one way or another, so they play nice in order to ensure better treatment. Many old people are also very lonely and nobody would listen to their rants if they acted like a bunch of d*ckholes. That's pretty much it.

I have no romantic ideas about old people, they are just.. old. People. I lived with my grandma for 20 years, she was a genuinely nice person and nice to me almost always, but she was also pretty dumb (almost totally uneducated), and i wouldn't have to exist if not for her, so i don't really have much warm thoughts.

As for wisdom, some old people are wise, some are dumb as shit, same as all others. If staying alive for a long time seems like wisdom to you, then listen to the old people. They will then teach you about the now extinct technologies which made it possible for them to survive.

 

[jandek]

Yeah, it seems like there's less and less support for older people in our atomized societies, even from their own families. It makes me fear growing old, knowing that I'll likely end up poor, alone, and with who knows what medical issues. I try to be considerate to old people.

 

[theboy]

be kind to people with mental health problems

 

[WhatPowerIs]

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Suicidebydeath]

Yeah, it seems like there's less and less support for older people in our atomized societies, even from their own families. It makes me fear growing old, knowing that I'll likely end up poor, alone, and with who knows what medical issues. I try to be considerate to old people.

I read that 80% of people placed in care homes don't live more than 5 years. It's very sad, for them. Growing old will be terrible for me because I don't have anyone nor offspring and family already don't care about me. I'll manage somehow, assuming I don't ctb first ofc. I suppose old people could be like us but stuck with survival instinct and society forcing them to live out their entire lives.

 

[leeloosnow]

my grandma died during covid at a care home, and i couldnt see her as we were many states apart, plus circumstances. ironically i fell into a caregiver role for local senior friends and family whose health had deteriorated faster b/c of isolation and resources. that def opened my eyes a bit. i already knew things don't get better as i age, but advocating for seniors that lived a traditionally productive healthy life, and not being able to help them as much as i wanted, that is a reality check. it's so hard for humans to deal with mental+physical degeneration, lack of resources, and apathy from society in general. i did enjoy the smiles, the hall pass to talk nonsense, the brief knowledge i did a good thing for someone else. but, yeah. ageism sucks especially for those of us already struggling in life. def agree with what ppl already said- be nice, you might be the only nice thing someone has.

 

[VirtualSnow]

be kind to people with mental health problems

And to those without them too, I guess most people deserve some love after all.

Either way, about the elderly, someone I know (who's was somewhat over 80 at the time) got an operation denied because of his age, thankfully he got it thanks to the intervention of another doctor, but he was close to not making it because of that. Prior to that, that same person had been in the hospital's bed for months, and when he got out of there, he had wounds on his back that lasted months, all because nobody even thought of moving him, kind of shows with how little care the elderly are treated, even being discarded and left to die because of it.