During the first three weeks of class I have been mostly interested in the book we were assigned to read, “Happiness is a Choice You Make” by John Leland. The chapters we have read so far have been about the six elder people he interviewed. Leland interviewed them and wrote all about it in his book. I will admit that some of the first topics were difficult for me to get through just because I did not find much of it interesting but after the first chapter I began to appreciate the stories the author wrote about his interviewees. What I found most interesting was that older people are in fact happier than younger people, and there are studies that prove this. Of course there's also Leland’s argument that society has an ageist view on the older population, which is definitely true. He explains how these stereotypes have been implemented into our brains making it very difficult to unlearn. The truth is that I never realized all of the jokes, comments, or ideas people made about older people until I started reading this book. After learning about this, I noticed the comments and jokes people of my generation made about older people that I never did before. It makes me wonder about how much this idea that old people are miserable and a burden was imposed on me before, because I never found it as offensive as I do now. Before it was a joke, but I appreciate the fact that Leland has made me see it in a different way. I found that what I thought about older people is the complete opposite from the truth. Such as the fact that most of the time older people are completely content with living their life how it is compared to the younger generation who tend to suffer more from illnesses such as depression. This also made me reflect on my grandparents and how I may not know them as well as I thought. Aside from this book that has made me reflect a lot, and the very interesting conversations I have with my peers on zoom, I am excited to continue reading and participating in discussions in class.
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Jimena Carolina SalazarJimena Salazar is a Public Health major with a concentration in Community Health Sciences. She is from Archives
March 2022
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