Lessons from our Elders

I published a weekly E-Letter for a couple of years. In October 2002 I published this article.

A friend sent the following to me.

"A few years ago my husband and I were given the opportunity to minister to some elderly ladies that attended the church where we were at the time. One of them kept asking us why we bothered with them because they were so old and feeble and really had nothing to do here anymore. I told her at the time what the Lord told me---that everyone has worth in his eyes, but it is in our own eyes that we are nothing. The reason for these ladies being here and not with him was because there were people here who needed to learn compassion, and the only way for them to do that was to care for people who were here who needed them, for whatever reason in the natural. If there were no people who needed us, we would never learn to be compassionate---it is part of becoming like Christ---he was compassionate to everyone of us!"

At one time our families were multigenerational with children, parents and grandparents all living under one roof. The grandparents had a roll in the life of the family. Children had a chance to know their grandparents.

Now the elderly are moved into retirement centers, extended care facilities and nursing homes. Elder care has become a growth industry. Once children took care of their grandparents and parents until the end, now they pick the facility where their parents will live out their lives. Today over 1.6 million people live in nursing homes.

I remember reading a book by Leo basically. He describes a class on love that he taught at the University of Southern California. One of the assignments for his students was to spent time in a nursing home with the elderly. I always remembered that story. Later I would encourage Club Scout Packs to adopt nursing homes and to have the Cub Scouts visit at various times during the year. I also remember doing a flag ceremony at a retirement center on Independence Day. My three scout age sons assisted me. The residents were wonderful.

Leo basically, the Love Professor, as he was fondly called, said "It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely."

On Monday nights you'll find me at the Cascadia retirement home in nearby Sandy, participating in a sing-a-long with fellow Kiwanians and residents. Together we make beautiful music. Lucille, Eleanor, Bob, Libby (we lost Libby this past August), Andy and all the others have taught me so much about life and living. I also found that I really like to sing. They are all very kind and don't tell me how bad I really am. The encouragement is wonderful.

When are you doing to bring hope to the lost and love to the lonely? Up to 60% of the nursing home residents have no regular visitors. My next column will be about the Adopt-a-Nursing home program.