The little old lady

2 Responses to The little old lady

1. ricki says:

   February 5, 2007 at 5:01 pm

   That’s kind of like a kick in the gut…both the way the “employees” treated her. And also – and this is one of my deepest fears (and I’m not entirely convinced that it is irrational) that someday I will be one of those old ladies, and because I focused on my career and didn’t “settle” for some guy who was sort-of-okay-but-not-really and didn’t have a couple of kids, that I will wind up 85, confused, alone, with no one to help me.

   I’m really deeply and seriously opposed to suicide but you know? If you get old and sick and your only choice is to hire someone (and I’ve seen some of the very indifferent people who are in the “home care” industry)…it makes me wonder. It makes me wonder if plugging on until 90 or whatever is really worth it if you’re going to lose your dignity and be treated like an old shoe by the very people whose salaries you are indirectly paying….
2. Marisa says:

   February 8, 2007 at 1:44 pm

   That awareness that it could be me is exactly what ran through my mind when I was standing there in the drugstore. You know, that split second when you have a choice and you think to yourself “well I could just keep going and not stop…” and you have a moment of insight into what you want to put out there and how you would want to be treated if it were you. And that makes your decision.

   I absolutely think I would consider making my own exit should I feel that things reach a point where I cannot continue without dignity. My older sister was a nurse working with the elderly for a long time and she would come home crying all the time. Not just because a favorite patient had passed – but because she caught an orderly mistreating someone that day or she found out a patient’s needs had been sorely neglected. She finally went to work for a hospital because working against the tide at a nursing home was so depressing she couldn’t go on with it.

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