Making the future perfect for the aged

The World Senior Citizens Day is celebrated every year with a different and unique theme. This year, the theme was ‘Stepping into the Future: Tapping the talents, contributions, and participation of older persons in society.’ The theme intends to promote and enhance the contributions of senior citizens’ to their families, communities and societies.

The event held every year on August 21 is an effort bring to fore the need for strengthening and promoting participation of senior citizens in various facets of cultural, social, civic, economic and political life while being mindful of their fundamental rights, needs and preferences. Unfortunately, abuse, neglect and a declining well-being of seniors is common. While the objective of observing a senior citizen day is to raise awareness of the problems and circumstances that affect senior citizens, it is primarily intended to honour and emphasise the value that senior citizens bring to society.

According to a recent report released by the World Health Organization, every second person harbours ageist attitudes that lead to poorer health, greater isolation and reduced quality of life for older persons. How do we remedy this? Growing older doesn’t imply that one should stop learning; on the contrary, it presents a perfect opportunity for people to explore their latent skills and talents. Learning new things as people get older, in fact, has added health benefits since learning reinvigorates the human brain.

An excellent way to keep the brain of a senior citizen busy, and healthy, is to learn a new skill. Neural pathways come to life with every new skill learnt. Depending on their personal interests and choice, seniors can acquire new skills. These abilities can be categorised as technical, creative, physical endeavours, spiritual and cultural discoveries.

Prioritising their own freedom and well-being, senior citizens must be encouraged to participate fully in enjoyable and useful social activities. Attending an art class, joining a hiking club, or volunteering in a community all go a long way in ensuring physical and emotional well-being. These, coupled with an active lifestyle, make the seniors less susceptible to specific illnesses, ensures longer life span, as they are less likely to be afflicted by ailments like depression common among the aged. Participating and engaging in social activities is important to the body, spirit and mind of everybody and more so as we age.

The National Positive Ageing Strategy (NPAS) promotes social participation as a key component of effective ageing. Besides, senior citizens bring skills and knowledge to community organisations to enhance social, psychological, and physical welfare not just for themselves but to community at large. A research carried out in Thailand found that family and community involvement, and an altruistic engagement with others, not only helped seniors avoid stress but also was effective in healthy ageing.

It is common knowledge that in families, which have healthy senior citizens, the quality of life for every one is significantly better. They act as mentors for younger members helping the latter to cope with their lives better. A prosperous and happy family is the major determinant of a country’s development. Senior citizens living with their children who are young parents themselves, provide valuable assistance -- sometimes financial, often in childcare and emotional well-being. An active and healthy senior citizen also means a better quality of life for the entire family.

Who can deny the value of the extensive knowledge and skills that senior citizens have acquired through a lifetime of experience? It is important to remind them that they have a responsibility to pass on their knowledge.

It is time we realised that senior citizens are not liabilities but assets of the nation. Senior citizens stepping into the future by continuing to participate in socio-cultural spheres of life, strengthen and promote better quality of life for everybody around them.

(Jagannath K Dange is Prof and Chairman and Mumthaz Anjum is Research Scholar, Dept. of P.G Studies and Research in Education, Kuvempu University, Shivamogga)