Hello In There

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there..."

I’ve heard that in the Eskimo culture, when an elder member wasn’t able to contribute to the tribe, they were placed on an iceberg and set a drift. Before you judge too harshly, consider two important details. First, Eskimos believed that they were, in fact, sending these elderly people to the afterlife. I’ve read that these senior Eskimos went willingly, not wanting to be a burden or jeopardize the survival of the rest of the tribe. They took this voyage with dignity. I’m not sure if they made the connection that the price of this trip was either starving or freezing to death. But, let’s not throw snow balls at anyone’s belief system; not just yet, at least. Knowing what a moral fan base I have here at Nebulous @ best, I know you’re thinking, “How could they? That’s cruel. They are doing away with people whose very lives have value. How could these people send Grandma on a one-way trip on Penguin Cruise Lines?” This brings me to my second point, what are we doing with the senior members of our own tribe? We’ve become a culture that discards our most prized members; a culture that values profits over people. These people should be cherished not cast away. We live in a time where a man who has worked hard his whole life can’t get the care he needs because of how hard he's worked. We care more about Britney’s bald head or the fight over finding a proper home for Ellen’s dog, than we do about the people who built this country. While sane (?) legislatures in Massachusetts allow birth control pills to be dispensed to 11-year-olds, the senior citizens who were our soldiers, our teachers, our builders and our dreamers are shuffled around for profit. Pro-abortion vegetarians (you know, “Wearing fur should be a crime, but sucking an unborn baby out a vacuum tube is a choice.”) sleep with clear consciences but men and women who lived moral, upright lives, who paid their way and followed the rules have no place to hang a picture or lay their head. Our nation’s homeless problem goes far beyond men on the side of the road holding signs offering to work for food. What about the people the government determines have too much money in their bank accounts and don’t qualify for Medi-Cal? What about the nursing facilities that check their patients into hospitals and then refuse to take them back because of potential financial liability? And through all of this, we say nothing or worse we say, "Medicate them and take the pain away." (Whose pain, I’ve not yet decided.) Don’t judge the Eskimos. They may have deluded themselves into thinking they were doing something noble but we are deluding ourselves also; that this isn’t our problem, that a Democrat can fix this or the Republican plan is even better, that when we grow older this won’t happen to us.

Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise. (Or depending on your faith system, Lord willing and no twinkling of an eye.) It will be interesting to see what happens in the future. This news story states that the first baby boomer has applied for Social Security benefits. I hope she has good insurance and less than $2,000 in the bank. If not, I hope she packs light.

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."

I’d love to hear what you think. Or you can go here. A new post on Monday.