The Irony Behind the Meaning of “Care” in “Eldercare”

 Sabah Amin

ID: 24146042

Section: 26

On a gloomy morning, I decided to go upstairs and roam around my rooftop. While taking the stairs, the zephyr and the petrichor made me feel contentment instantly. Living in the old city gives me a break from the usual traffic, chaos, and roadway noises. The graveyard beside my house adds another perk to it, After reaching the rooftop, I saw Dadu (My grandmother) sitting peacefully on a chair. She is the eldest member of our family as I live in a joint family, I get to see her approximately every day which always pleases me no matter what. I went to talk to her and she put a smile on her face saying “There you go, why didn’t you come to see me for the last few days? What took you so long” I explained about the busy schedule I have to go through every day and my institution is too far away from home, it adds more to it. She suddenly zoned out or got dissociated from the scenario. She started sharing a conversation that she had with one of her friends about how she lives away from her family and how her son abandoned her in the process. She is just left alone living her life in loneliness and out of actual family care. I could feel drizzles in the air and a slight ache in my heart thinking if it was too hard to take care of our parents after they raised us to this position we are in now and if it was too hard to take care of one’s parent who raised them giving all their heart out in the process. Care doesn’t always mean to be visual like feeding them, helping them if they face difficulties, etc. It also involves the mental peace that they can easily provide at the aged stage of their life. At this stage of one's life, they usually don’t have the physical sufficiency to provide for the family or themselves. They might not get any perks that they need in their livelihood but it’s crazy how people forget how they were supplied for everything by their family when they reach the best phase of their life according to them. The raindrops quickly began to feel heavy and I decided to walk to my room. Before leaving I asked Dadu to go inside the house as she might catch a cold. She nodded and told me to visit her again but this time she was looking at the sky and was lost in her thoughts. I came home and decided to go through some articles on the internet. In addition to that, it’s creepy how AI could generate information based on our thoughts or read through what we have said or discussed. Therefore, I came across an article (The Daily Star,2023). I was sad upon realizing how the old people struggle every day for bread and butter. From rickshaw pullers to beggars, the aged theory makes them feeble but they still work with a view to surviving while shouldering their own expenses. It’s saddening to see an aged individual struggle with their daily needs and be helpless. Moreover, there are not enough eldercare in Bangladesh, and also, the old age allowance they provide is just a formality. Studies based on Bangladesh’s situation, 43 percent of elderly people are poor and 28.2 percent of them live below the poverty line (The Daily Star, 2022). The gale is now blowing heavily, shattering windows in the distance, trying to break through while the awning grasps the blow to prevent calamity. My conscience was reminding me, why there isn’t any shield to protect aged people at this stage of their life. Even if there is, why it doesn’t apply to all out there. Thunders rumbling, I said to myself that I would try my best to make it easier for them to live and provide as much as I could to make a better living for them so that they don’t die before their actual death and the thunders that they keep burying in themselves. The term “eldercare” should be viewed under the lens of “care” having dignity along with it.

 

 

“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”- Abraham Lincoln

                       

Reference:

Ahmed, N. (2023, November 15). Bangladesh needs to do better for its elderly. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/bangladesh-needs-do-better-its-elderly-3470111

Akram, O. (2022, October 6). Taking care of our elderly must not be an afterthought. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/taking-care-our-elderly-must-not-be-afterthought-3136621