The Character of a Community

On Sunday evening I had the pleasure to attend a very touching and inspiring event. This event, celebrated a 100 year anniversary, and the retirement/service of a dedicated individual who has dedicated a great portion of her life to providing care to the elderly of her community.

During this gala, one of the speakers made a simple statement that touched me in a profound manner. The statement? "You can judge the strength and character of a community by how they treat their elders."

As I sat there pondering his words and the rest of the evenings events; the strength and prophetic wisdom of this thought kept reverberating in my head. Several questions came to mind... How does my community treat it's elders? How have I role modeled the expectation of treatment to elders? Would my community members who are not part of my "care giving" environment agree with this statement?

I had never thought of a communities character in this manner. The speaker was referring to a religious based community; however his concept and thought can be applied to several sets of societal communities. Where do my "communities" measure up in comparison to the role model that I observed last night? (picture near 700 people who paid a large sum of money to attend this fundraising/retirement gala, all of whom were supporters of this specific religious community via religious or business affiliation.) Tough assessment and evaluation for myself.

Where have I been as a role model for care in my community sharing the expectation of how elders should be respected and treated? Am I a true advocate in every sense of the word? I would like to think yes; however I find myself thinking I/we could do better, and should do better. As a prospective elder, I would hope someone would advocate for me when I can no longer do so for myself.

As fellow caregivers; I ask you where is your community in the realm of respect and honor toward it's elders? Is it where you would like it to be when you are aged? If not, do we really have a community of value or character that we can be proud of?

Interesting thought, and one that I will share with my management staff...Great discussion topic for our next meeting.