Out With the Old?

A 108-year-old woman has died after it was claimed she starved herself to death because she was unhappy about moving to a new care-home.

“The family of Alice Knight said she lost the will to live and stopped eating after the move …”

Such vicious aggression against old people is not limited to the family unit. It has long spread to society, worse than any period in history. Old people are considered easy targets and are regularly robbed and mugged.

The U.S. and Britain have sunk to such a lamentable moral low that the majority of less developed, even primitive societies demonstrate more respect for the elderly than we do. Aborigines pay great respect to old persons. The whiter a teacher’s hair in China, the more honor he receives. In Japan, it is considered a natural duty of the family to care for grandparents in their old age. In Middle European countries, one of the offspring traditionally stays at home to care for the aging parents. Grandparents take a leading role in instructing the young in the Bantu tribe of Kenya. Young Arabs will tell you that there is no greater disgrace than to abandon the old. Even in the U.S., there are proportionately few Latinos in old people’s homes.

We have come a long way from the days when God-fearing families cared for their eldest members, and honored and respected them. This is the main reason so many old people are suffering now! In the social game of tinkering around with the moral mainstay of society—the family—and turning away from the traditional, God-ordained family structure, the aged have become big losers!

“Age is the crowning culmination of life, the golden years. It should be looked upon with honor, respect, even awe. It should be an experience made pleasant by the warm attention and support of family members, especially children and grandchildren” (Plain Truth, May 1980).

God the Father Himself goes by the name Ancient of Days! (Daniel 7:9).

A timely warning for any of us guilty of ageism!

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