Never underestimate the elderly

By Amitabh Sharma

Last week, we got an insight into Aunt Anna’s life, her transition from Cuba to Jamaica and then the United States, where she took upon herself to see her granddaughter Angelique through in academics.

We get inspired from people’s lives, and especially what they do. Anna is one such person, who doesn’t let age be a deterrent.

“When she started tutoring Angelique, her ageing seemed to slow to a crawl, her granddaughter’s challenge in maths was a blessing in disguise for mummy,” said Garth. “Her friends of similar age had not found purpose for their lives except to hang around their family members and wait for the inevitable.”

This is a sad reality, perhaps universal, when people are told to ‘act their age’ or that they have ‘retired’ not only from their jobs, but their lives too. These narratives need to change.

“People underestimate the elderly, they do not see much purpose in their lives, so they slowly deteriorate for lack of their ability to keep pace with the lives of younger people,” said Garth, who’s a medical doctor, and comes across patients with similar stories. “The elderly are often relegated to sitting around, perhaps assisting with the preparation of meals, reminiscing on the past, engaging in conversation about their long lost youth, and just hang around and hang on without anything to look forward to.”

But Anna broke this stereotypical perception and knew that her mind and body needed exercise. “She learnt to play keyboard, she taught herself to play the guitar, she researched and mapped her family tree, she even wrote short stories about her children,” Garth said. “She partook in online English competitions, she was the sage for her extended family, she began a basic Spanish course online, and she spent a fair amount of time doing art.”

Almost everyone underestimated the ability of an elderly and ageing brain to learn maths and impart that knowledge to her granddaughter. However, Anna was successful and so was Angelique. In fact, when it was time for Angelique to study maths during her postgrad training, it was Anna who tutored her and made certain that Angelique was able to graduate at both the undergrad and postgrad levels … with honours. Both Angelique and Anna earned those degrees!

The lesson here is that the elderly should never limit and underestimate themselves. Anna is living proof that keeping an elderly mind and body busy will help with useful longevity.

And Anna is tech savvy, she owns two Android tablets, and is quite active on social media. She is an avid browser – Anna keeps abreast with the latest trends, shopping and also the news. In fact, her family turns to her to get the latest happenings.

“Anna is not simply an appendage, an obsolete part, she is a fully functional family member,” said Garth.

We concur, and add that no one should be or treated like one.

(Thanks to Dr Garth Rattray for sharing valuable insights and inputs.)

The first part of the column appeared on October 2, 2024. Click here to read Part I of the column.

(The column Postcard from Jamaica appears every Wednesday.)

 Read also:

Adventures of Grandma Emma – inspiring to live life
Elderly Parents’ Day Out … that had their daughter on edge
Elderly Parents’ Day Out … after a Category 4 hurricane -II