Policy directly affects our lives more profoundly than we’d think.
Social Security. Medicare. You’ve spent your whole life working for these. Every paycheck you’ve earned, a tiny portion of your wage is taken and stored away by the government for your later use as a senior. Now imagine spending all those years at your job and just a few months before you retire, you turn on the news—the current administration now considers your financial safety net as “entitlements.”
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On Wednesday, our class was able to visit the main site for the Serving Seniors Center. What I learned wasn’t new to me—that seniors are barely living above or are already under the federal poverty line, that there is an average 11 year wait-time for housing vouchers, and that our infrastructure is struggling to accommodate the inevitable wave of the “silver tsunami.” Yet despite all these dire predictions, life manages to go right on. The cars zoom by and the pedestrians mill about the lobby, saying hello to one or another or going through the motions of their daily lives.
Despite many newfound revelations about how Serving Seniors operates (connecting seniors to social workers and healthcare—who knew dental hygiene was such a pivotal part of our lives?!), the nitty-gritty details of current circumstances (more people tend to wait in line for meals at the end of the month because that’s when their money usually runs out), and the complicated yet central role of politics in everyday life, what struck me the most was the normalcy of the whole place.
In this mashup of cultures and ages, everyone seemed content to be there, their faces slightly curious at the young ‘uns coming through their stomping grounds. My ears still buzzing with the morbid facts about aging policies, it was a little bit unsettling to see some cheery seniors waving me over to say hello and ask about my brightly colored hair.
While it is important to remember to vote and to participate in civic duties, it is also equally important to remember who you are doing it for. These people had very real lives and very real stories simmering under the surface of their intelligent eyes and crinkled skin. They craved conversation. They longed for familiarity. They wanted to teach.
To be quite truthful, I have always lived my life on the sidelines. I never strayed too far from my comfort zone and always prided myself on my careful planning. But as I walked back and forth the room, listened to the looming demands of the “sandwich generation,” I find that time is catching up with me. We have this one beautiful life, one we must cherish, one in which we should do our best. Turmoil and challenges will always accompany the adventures of our life, but we will always find ways to forge ahead.
Yes, heartbreak and struggle are inevitable, but regret and futility should not weigh down our years. There is only so much our mortal bones can sustain. As Gandalf the Grey wisely said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Social Security. Medicare. You’ve spent your whole life working for these. Every paycheck you’ve earned, a tiny portion of your wage is taken and stored away by the government for your later use as a senior. Now imagine spending all those years at your job and just a few months before you retire, you turn on the news—the current administration now considers your financial safety net as “entitlements.”
! ! ! ! !
On Wednesday, our class was able to visit the main site for the Serving Seniors Center. What I learned wasn’t new to me—that seniors are barely living above or are already under the federal poverty line, that there is an average 11 year wait-time for housing vouchers, and that our infrastructure is struggling to accommodate the inevitable wave of the “silver tsunami.” Yet despite all these dire predictions, life manages to go right on. The cars zoom by and the pedestrians mill about the lobby, saying hello to one or another or going through the motions of their daily lives.
Despite many newfound revelations about how Serving Seniors operates (connecting seniors to social workers and healthcare—who knew dental hygiene was such a pivotal part of our lives?!), the nitty-gritty details of current circumstances (more people tend to wait in line for meals at the end of the month because that’s when their money usually runs out), and the complicated yet central role of politics in everyday life, what struck me the most was the normalcy of the whole place.
In this mashup of cultures and ages, everyone seemed content to be there, their faces slightly curious at the young ‘uns coming through their stomping grounds. My ears still buzzing with the morbid facts about aging policies, it was a little bit unsettling to see some cheery seniors waving me over to say hello and ask about my brightly colored hair.
While it is important to remember to vote and to participate in civic duties, it is also equally important to remember who you are doing it for. These people had very real lives and very real stories simmering under the surface of their intelligent eyes and crinkled skin. They craved conversation. They longed for familiarity. They wanted to teach.
To be quite truthful, I have always lived my life on the sidelines. I never strayed too far from my comfort zone and always prided myself on my careful planning. But as I walked back and forth the room, listened to the looming demands of the “sandwich generation,” I find that time is catching up with me. We have this one beautiful life, one we must cherish, one in which we should do our best. Turmoil and challenges will always accompany the adventures of our life, but we will always find ways to forge ahead.
Yes, heartbreak and struggle are inevitable, but regret and futility should not weigh down our years. There is only so much our mortal bones can sustain. As Gandalf the Grey wisely said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”