Initially there was pleasure and appreciation of them, and then, as they sat in them and really saw them, there was a feeling that these chairs were more suited to an old people’s home than a children’s hospice – dark green, dull, uninspiring, but at least can be wiped clean in case of accidents.
Jokingly I entered the lounge where the staff were gathered saying, “I'm just going to sit in one of these chairs to see what my future looks like.”
I sat down (they weren't particularly comfortable), looked round the room “So this is it then, another fifteen years or so in one of these, arranged around a room with a big flat screen TV on all the time. Oooh shoot me now!!!” A nurse joined in with me in the middle of singing “I did it my way.”
It was very funny, but later it hit me like a douche of cold water. For 418,000 people in the UK over 65 years old, this is the reality. That’s 4% rising to 15% for people over 85 years old – sit there, switch off, be entertained. Like the chairs, be wiped clean, functional, uninspired by life.
In Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man (from As You Like it – All the World’s a Stage speech) we are taken from a dribbling child, sans hair, sans teeth, to the same condition as an old person. Today we are taken from the toddler who is sat in front of the TV, laptop, iPad while Mum and Dad do other stuff, to the aged care home as an older person where we are sat in front of the TV and entertained endlessly, mindlessly. Keep quiet, don't be a nuisance.
There is no horror story written that is equal to this.
What a travesty, what a departure from the magnificent soul enjoined human being we were meant to be on our journey through this life, all our lives, as we return to our true way of being. As I write I am 78, fit (whatever that means), still working, not on any medication, enjoying life and certainly not switched off. Does that make me one of the lucky ones? No. I may have been impulsed to make choices of what this body needs to serve on this planet. Through those impulses I have chosen and continue to choose to follow The Way of The Livingness, God's Ancient Wisdom.
And if there will be, as part of God's plan, a green chair for me, then I will fill it with the love and joy of knowing that God sits on that chair as me.
Catherine B., UK
If you enjoyed this article, you may also like to read:
Being Retired – A New Beginning
Jokingly I entered the lounge where the staff were gathered saying, “I'm just going to sit in one of these chairs to see what my future looks like.”
I sat down (they weren't particularly comfortable), looked round the room “So this is it then, another fifteen years or so in one of these, arranged around a room with a big flat screen TV on all the time. Oooh shoot me now!!!” A nurse joined in with me in the middle of singing “I did it my way.”
It was very funny, but later it hit me like a douche of cold water. For 418,000 people in the UK over 65 years old, this is the reality. That’s 4% rising to 15% for people over 85 years old – sit there, switch off, be entertained. Like the chairs, be wiped clean, functional, uninspired by life.
In Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man (from As You Like it – All the World’s a Stage speech) we are taken from a dribbling child, sans hair, sans teeth, to the same condition as an old person. Today we are taken from the toddler who is sat in front of the TV, laptop, iPad while Mum and Dad do other stuff, to the aged care home as an older person where we are sat in front of the TV and entertained endlessly, mindlessly. Keep quiet, don't be a nuisance.
There is no horror story written that is equal to this.
What a travesty, what a departure from the magnificent soul enjoined human being we were meant to be on our journey through this life, all our lives, as we return to our true way of being. As I write I am 78, fit (whatever that means), still working, not on any medication, enjoying life and certainly not switched off. Does that make me one of the lucky ones? No. I may have been impulsed to make choices of what this body needs to serve on this planet. Through those impulses I have chosen and continue to choose to follow The Way of The Livingness, God's Ancient Wisdom.
And if there will be, as part of God's plan, a green chair for me, then I will fill it with the love and joy of knowing that God sits on that chair as me.
Catherine B., UK
If you enjoyed this article, you may also like to read:
Being Retired – A New Beginning