The senior cult

People living in various environments would live in different types of cultures. The culture they lived in defines how the people formulated and dealt with problems of basic human existence. Humans have also been migrating and have been restless which shows that they were not always satisfied with the way problems were dealt with. These constant migrations and other ways of communication exposed people more and more cultures from various regions. The world slowly got divided into two categories. First were the developed countries and the other were the developing countries. The developing countries tried hard to catch up with the developed countries and tried to meet the basic necessities of all its citizens. Some of them still are striving towards the fulfilling the needs of their citizens. The scenario is much better now as compared to 50 years ago. This development brought about many questions within the developing countries. One of these questions concerned the ‘non-productive’ citizens or the senior citizens or a country. Such questions also raised economic and social problems. Besides food, clothing, shelter and other materialistic needs, senior citizens also crave love and tender care. They would like to have their own space and have a constructive and creative role to play towards the society. The western response to this problem has liberated them from certain responsibilities, making them as economically independent as possible and handing over their health issues to various specialised institutions. These institutions could successfully meet the materialistic needs of the senior citizens, but they couldn’t do much when it came to love, warmth, and the desire to be heard and to be visible. In the Western setting, senior citizens were never given the love and warmth which they craved for and hence over time, they became independent and have now got used to living without any support from their family. In the Eastern setting, elders were always given respect and were always looked up to and hence the elders got dependent on their children and other family members. But in the recent times, with the ‘western culture’ and the concept of ‘nuclear families’ setting into the east, the current generation has been neglecting their elders.