Today I read to some people at a retirement home for an hour for my community service. It was the saddest thing! There was one lady who sat in the corner asking for her mom and dad and trying to find out when she would be able to go home. My heart went out to this woman because her parents have probably been dead a good 20 or 30 years and she is clearly in no state to ever return home. No one had the heart to tell her her parents were dead or that she would not be going home. She just sat there for an hour, asking for these things that anyone would want. Some people periodically told her to shut up because she was being really loud. She was like a child, but she's anything but.
One of the other ladies who came (who was of sound mind) started taking me around and introducing me to people as her "friend", though I didn't know her personally. All I did was read to a group of people and talk to them a little bit about what I was reading. Other people she introduced me to said that I was their friend to. Clearly, there is a problem here. It seems we forget the elder generation in our busy lives. We have time for them when it is convenient, rarely when it is the right thing to do.
I beg of you, if you have parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents among the living, go visit. Take the time to get to know them before it's too late. Even if it does nothing for you, the look on the faces of the elders when someone comes to spend time is purely heart-warming. You have the power to make someone's day and all you have to do is stop in, say hi, and smile for 5 minutes.
I really want to start visiting the retirement home regularly. It feels wonderful knowing it is that easy to make someone happy.
Old Age
By lennon12 - Posted on November 6th, 2008
I hope you are able to visit regularly and I'm really glad you went to read today! I worked in nursing homes for a few years and then did home health care with the elderly for another 2 years and there are just never enough volunteers. So often, family visits infrequently and they just feel forgotten or burdensome. There are some really amazing people and it's almost heartbreaking to see how happy it makes them when someone spends just a few minutes chatting with them. It can really make their days so much brighter just to chat with someone, even if it is someone they don't know, for a few minutes.
With the holiday season coming up, they're always looking for someone to adopt an elderly person. It's one of our favorite parts of the season here. Every year we adopt a child and an elderly person for the holidays and load them up on gifts and goodies. It's so much fun shopping for these people who would otherwise go without during the holiday season.
I encourage everyone to go volunteer to play games at a nursing home, to stop in to chat for a few minutes, to sit and read with someone that has no family or to drop off a donation. There is always room for a volunteer and they are always so appreciated. And there are never enough books, games, articles of clothing, and goodies to go around.
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~Fallon~
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.- Russell
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That is awesome what you did. I used to volunteer at nursing home frequently, but sometimes i couldn't handle it. they usually wanted me to read the Bible ( i am not very religious)
most of the people i visited were dying also.
it definitely takes a strong person to deal with that on a daily basis.