THE THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

With all the talk about the problems in the world and who is denied this or that I wonder if people ever really consider just how good they have it? Protesters recently complained when police had Chik-fil-a was brought in to feed the police doing their job. They felt they deserved it as well. My guess is if they had bothered to order it and pay for it then it would have been delivered. But they wanted it free. College students think they’re being overburdened because they have to pay for their education, ignoring the fact that if you want anything in this world you have to pay for it. In an age of free cell phones from the government how can a rational person not think they’re entitled to everything free?

This is not to slam those who take advantage of the free items out there. That’s a great thing, to have access to so much for free or little costs. But those items were placed there as a means of helping people move forward not to contain them there for the rest of their lives. Odd to complain about slavery while making yourself a slave to whoever is in control isn’t it?

But all of this talk leads me to something else that bothers me. While we worry day and night about those who are disenfranchised we rarely ever hear anything about the elderly. While some claim to be the most ignored group on the planet how often do we consider the plight of the elderly, their needs both physical and mental? I’m guessing not one of you has had to consider it of late.

Consider a woman in her 90s whose husband has passed away and who took care of her all those years. Maybe she took him for granted and expects someone or everyone to fill that void. It’s not a reasonable request. If she were willing to look at things from other’s perspective she might realize that she needs to do for herself more. Then again there will be times where she needs help. Assisted living comes to mind. But what about those who can’t afford that? What about the many who are unable to afford just taking care of themselves be they elderly or disabled? What about the many who never made plans or just put things off to do so just one more year only to find themselves in a predicament made by that error?

I’m there now. I see the mistakes I made. None of them were anyone else’s. I own them completely. And yet I never demand anything from anyone, no call to arms for the government to give me an outrageous sum to suit my every whim. You deal with what life delivers, even if the mistakes made were yours, and you carry on. You hang on to your faith and seek divine providence and if it doesn’t come when you want it to you don’t hold God accountable, you carry on. Day by day.

You begin to realize the things you took for granted for so long. I wonder how many reading this realize the number of things they take for granted on a daily basis. Consider a normal day start to finish. If it’s summer you probably have the air conditioner going through the night. What if running it that much made your electric bill too high so you had to resort to the old days of open windows? A shower? What if you had to haul your water in rather than indoor plumbing, the same with that initial trip to the toilet, indoor not out? Not to mention using the cheapest toilet paper you could afford. What if you couldn’t afford toothpaste and had to go with the old baking soda routine? You also have to bend down to rinse because you can’t afford those cute tiny cups for water. How about just shampooing your hair? If you couldn’t afford the numerous shampoos the world offers and had to use a bar of soap could you? And not any bar of soap but the least expensive kind.

Breakfast would consists of eggs if you can afford them but maybe you save those to cook with. You either cook on the stove or eat cereal, but only the bagged cheap brands because the name brands are outrageously expensive. Do you combine milk and water on that cereal to save money? No orange juice, it’s too expensive. You can’t go anywhere because you can’t afford a tank of gas. If you could where would you go? Everything costs money to go to. Maybe a walk in the park or just a drive. But again the price of gas.

Lunch is an affordable meal, a cheese sandwich. It is your lifeblood next to the ever popular peanut butter sandwich. And neither one hurts your teeth if you have dental issues you can’t take care of because you can’t afford it. Another treat, instant drink mix. Why? Because it taste better than water and it’s affordable when placed next to cola. Speaking of you don’t drink Coke or Pepsi because it’s too much money too except on those wild days when it’s on sale and you have a coupon as well.

So you’re stuck at home with nothing to do but watch TV. There you have a grainy picture that features only the local channels. All those complaints about 500 channels and nothing to watch fall by the wayside when you can’t afford cable or dish. You sit and wait for someone to visit but chances are they’re at work and can’t stop by. Even after work the odds are slim because they have lives of their own to deal with as they move forward to the same spot you are in right now.

Dinner is the same as lunch unless you bought enough things to make something that will last for days like a pot of chili or maybe soup beans and cornbread. But meat isn’t often because, again, it costs too much. And why does the issue of costs continue? Because the money you have coming in, most likely social security, isn’t much. Maybe $1,300 a month. From that comes rent, utilities and food. You applied for food stamps but the average amount people get is $16 a month. Even though you always hear about how welfare cheats are making sometimes $200 a month on food stamps and trading them for cash to buy cigarettes. You have no idea how to take advantage of that and are too proud to do so anyway. Not to mention too old to start having several children that you can then ignore.

Nigh comes and you watch TV in a dark room, trying to keep your electric bill down. You sleep on a sagging mattress because you can’t afford a new one. You sleep alone because your spouse is no longer there. You don’t have a pet because you can’t afford the vet bills or to even feed one if you had one. You lay there at night and life has changed. You went from a vital person who went places, who did things, to someone along that no one wants to take anywhere or comes to see. Life has boiled down to just counting the days until you die. And if you haven’t already made plans for your death you’re handled by the state. If you did make plans your heirs discover that the plans you made and paid for are now more expensive and they have to pay the balance. And anything you save to leave them is taxed so they get less than you wanted to leave them. Odd since the money you earned was taxed once to begin with.

Depressed? Well imagine if you were that person I was talking about. We tend to ignore of forget the elderly these days. Where there was once a time when they were revered and cared for after they stopped working we now push them aside and hope someone else takes care of them.

So how about this. A challenge since I love to issue those.

If you have an elderly relative go and visit them. Don’t do it once, do it periodically. See if they need anything and if you are able, help them with things they might need. Imagine the joy nothing more than a tube of their favorite toothpaste might bring. Invite them into your home for family gatherings. It might be a pain in the ass for you but I’m betting just the ability to be among family means the world to them. If you can afford it or have the ability let them live with you. They provided for you for so many years, why wouldn’t you want to do the same? Look back at all they did for you that you took for granted all those years ago as a child and consider what they gave up for you to have things. Give them love. It is one thing they need more than anything.

The elderly are ignored because they don’t matter to those who should take care of them. Politicians don’t care about them because they aren’t a big enough voting block to make a difference to them. But they should matter to you. Remember that your children are seeing how you treat your family members. They’ll learn from that years down the line.

Like I said when I started, put yourself in their shoes for just one day. Consider the things you take for granted that they either can’t do or can’t afford. Could you give up those creature comforts? A single cheeseburger and a Coke at McDonalds? If not then consider how much so little could mean and pass a small token to those who cared for you.