Thought this was an incredibly beautiful photo.
Someone playing ball with an elderly lady in a wheelchair!
Too often, I think we forget or neglect the older, disabled, and disadvantaged population.
These were once the people who cared for us!
As we grow older, life can get so much harder in terms of health, disability, finances, and even loneliness.
It is so important to show compassion, kindness, and care for the people who need us, and not to forget anyone along the journey of life! 😉
What will restarting the economy after Coronavirus look like?
Well Israel has a well-thought-out 4 Phase Plan (pending approval) and I would imagine that the U.S. plan will look something very much like this:
– Phase I: Tech and Finance, some Import/Export industries, 50% of Public Sector, and Preschool
– Phase II: Commerce/Retail Stores, Elementary School (ages 6-10)
– Phase III: Cafes, Restaurants, and Hotels, and most of the rest of the Education system
– Phase IV: Leisure and Entertainment: Culture, Sports, Large Shopping Malls, and Flights
There are 4 additional key provisions to this plan:
– 2 Week Buffer between phases to review and evaluate success before moving forward with the next phase.
– “People over 60 and at-risk populations will not resumenormal activity throughout the four phases.”
– Resuming these activities occurs with the exercise of continued caution (e.g. social distancing, testing, etc.)
– Expect 2nd outbreak in the Fall and therefore continue to build up healthcare capabilities in preparation for this
This sounds like an excellent plan as a basis to reopen and one that we can and should build upon. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal and thank you to my sister for sharing this with me)
So as we age, we’ve got to cope with a different reality.
Our bodies and minds may start to deteriorate.
We can’t do all the same things we used to do (even as we can maybe do others).
There can be a deep sense of loss as abilities, things, places, and people that were critical to us for many, many years may no longer be present with us.
When I used to speak with my aging father about he and my mom getting older, he would joke and say:
Yes, we’re getting older–what’s the alternative?
Then the other day, I ran into a nurse from the Jewish Social Services Agency (JSSA).
We chatted briefly about the good work they do in helping so many elderly and handicapped people.
And then she says to me about how she herself is starting to feel what it’s like to get older, and that she often tells her mom that everything hurts to which her mother responds:
You’re not supposed to leave this world alive!
Putting these together:
I suppose we all need to do the best we can to age graciously ourselves as well as help others in the process–because there is no alternative to aging and no one leaves this world alive. 😉
Thought this was an interesting perspective on retirement.
There are three phases:
1) Go-Go: You retire and are eager to enjoy your newfound freedom, and you spend the time and money to really do the pursuits and travel that you always wanted.
2) Slow-Go: After the initial adventurism and spending, you settle in some more and spend your time on quiet activities, socializing, and relaxing.
3) No-Go: This is the wind down phase, where you spend most of your time at home and at a certain point, may need some assistance to do everyday activities.
Obviously, the last phase is sort of depressing, but it too is a part of life.
Like a bell-shaped curve, we are born, grow, mature, and then decline.
This is the cycle of life for every living thing.
It takes maturity and courage to face it and to make the most out of every single moment that we are blessed with. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Is being old an age, a feeling, or both?
Some people seem to get old before their time.
They go about echting and kretzching–at 40 and 50, they are saying this hurts and I feel crummy about that! Nu, I’m not 18 anymore!
Other people never, literally almost never seem to get old.
One lady I know is going to be 94 this month and she is going strong mentally, emotionally, and physically. It almost seems impossible.
This guy in the photo has a funny shirt on that says:
“I thought growing old would take longer.”
Yeah, it does sort of creep up on you, but really, really fast. Like where the heck did that come from!
I know inside for me, I always still feel like a kid.
I have the same funny side, playful side, and curious side; the desire to be productive and accomplish something meaningful with my life and time, and to love and be loved.
Yeah, things hurt a little more than they did years ago–can’t believe the things I used to be able to do–Yes, at one time, I use to break cinder blocks with my bare hands, true!
But now, I can do other things like swim and hike and I love to write things that I am passionate about or to be a little creative too!
Maybe we do not get old…maybe we are just like caterpillars that morph into something else like butterflies during this life and into the life beyond.
Age is experience, learning, growth–lots of mistakes–and then recovering and trying again and harder.
Life is wonderment and excitement and appreciation for every amazing beautiful thing.
No, life does not get old.
Suffering and loss gets old quick and wish it never was.
But we are physical bodies with eternal souls, so we go on and on into the wild blue yonder. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
You can walk for miles…
It’s quiet and green in a suburban setting.
Who’s that dummy?
Lovers come out here too.
Some graffiti tells you there is still the big city of Washington, D.C. nearby.
A little surveillance—the “I’s” have it!
ADT security plus some colorful wind adornments in front of the houses.
Park is good, but only until sunset.
Watch out, “old people” crossing (saw a deer too).
The whole trail runs between Rockville and Bethesda–see the French International School, The National Institute of Health, Suburban Hospital, houses, shopping, parks, and more.
Try not to get too lost in the fun of it all. 😉
(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
This guy was a hoot on the Metro in Washington, D.C.
His shirt says:
“With age comes oldness.”
Ah, yeah!
When he was sitting, he had his arms crossed over his chest, and I thought it said:
“With age, comes baldness.”
That too!
Getting old is not easy.
Being young is not easy either.
But it’s really how you handle yourself during every stage and turn in life that defines who you are and what you become as an person and a creation of G-d.
You’ve got to get up and walk the dance through thick and thin…life bring old age and oldness…what’s the alternative. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I just love this drawing of the parents and child.
My daughter found it on Instagram and sent it to me.
As a little kid, my wife and I used to hold her hands and swing her between us when walking (like in the above illustration)–she loved that!
Now as we get older, we still try to be good, helpful parents (not too intrusive or helicopter-like–well maybe a little), but we can certainly see a day down the line when the cycle of life goes full circle.
My daughter used to joke (I think) about putting me in an old age home–she knew that after seeing what my mom went through there with Parkinson’s, that is truly the last place I would want to end up.
Of course, sometimes there really is no choice when a person just needs so much care that it is beyond what the family can do any longer.
Frankly, what I have learned is that the most important and precious thing that parents and children can give each other is…time!
So is that child in the bottom illustration helping his aging parents along or is he dragging them off to the nursing home? Perhaps, we’ll never know until it’s too late. 😉
(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal from Instagram Unlimited Knowledge)
What great brain at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) came up with the idea to curb access to prosthetics for the disabled?
What is supposedly driving CMS?
It’s a half-wit effort to put a dent in fraud for lower-limb prosthetics –estimated at just $43 million relative to CMS’s annual budget of close to $1 trillion!
Uh, doesn’t CMS have anything better to do then pick on disabled people missing one or more legs?
The profound dumbness of the proposed CMS new rules would limit amputees from possible reimbursement for artificial limbs for example, “if they use assistive devices such as canes or crutches.”
But isn’t that precisely what someone who can’t walk and is missing a limb would use???
Here’s the next doozy…CMS would limit advanced prosthetics “if the device doesn’t enable them to walk with the appearance of a natural gait.”
OMG, this is too much!
People with disabilities who require help need it precisely because they are not “natural” in their mobility functions–that is what we are seeking to help them with.
You’re going to penalize someone from getting artificial limbs because they still can’t walk completely normal with fake limbs like with real ones?
Moreover, if the Veteran’s Administration adopts these rules, this will also affect our wounded warfighters.
G-d (and the Secretary of HHS) needs to put some sense back in the minds of the people who, in this case, instead of helping the disabled are misguidedly working against them. 😉
(Source Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)
So when we’re young, we think we’re Superman, Batman, or whatever superhero comes to mind.
Our bodies are beautiful, supple, strong, and heal quickly.
We are taught by our helicopter parents and philosophic teachers that “You can do anything you set your mind to!“
In our fantasies, we surely can do amazing things–we lift unbelievable weight, fly around at the speed of light, do karate better than Bruce Lee, outthink Einstein, save the world, and then make off with the beautiful damsel to boot.
Kryptonite is no problem–we are (seemingly) invincible.
Then we hit middle age–40 something–and all of a sudden what do you know?
Oh, this doesn’t work right and that doesn’t feel right.
The Yiddish expression, “Oy vey” seems about it.
And off to the doctors we go.
After the exam and tests, doc says, “Mr. (or Ms.) [whatever], you have [fill in the blank].”
You respond, “Is that normal–at my age–already?”
Doc says, “Absolutely, this is what happens as you get older.”
I say, “Doc, does anything good happen when we get older.”
“Of course not”–we both laugh.
This reminds me of when my dad used to sing this song in this funny mock Irish accent, “You’re not as young as you used to be you’re getting old and gray!”
This week, a colleague was coming down with something–possibly something not good.
I told him how I hoped this turns out well for him and how sorry I was for what he was going through.
Writing off the illness, he says to me, “We all end the same anyway” (i.e. we all end up dead!)–ah, another unhappy notion that is.
I joked back, “But we all don’t end up in the same place.”
I got a few laughs at that too (some of my father in me).
Well anyway, I thought about this after–about some of the special subhuman beings out there–and the very special place that I am certain G-d has in store for them:
– Serial murders and other violent criminals
– Rapists and child abusers
– Terrorists and their sponsors
– Megalomaniacs, bullies, and corrupt officials
– Thieves, cheats, and liars.
And guess what about these schmendricks–they get old too, they go to the doctor too, and then they are going somewhere warm, very warm, and it’s not to the Caribbean. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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