Blame the Old Folks - Part 2

I recently posted on Facebook that I have been blessed with having many incredible senior citizens in my life.

A grandmother and grandmother-in-law who both lived to be 99. Parents-in-law that lived to 89. A close friend who died at 87. Another dear friend who is 89. An uncle who lived to be 83 against incredible odds and who clung vehemently to his "liberal Democratic" values to the end. An aunt who is 92 and failing now, but whose entire adult life, like her older sister, my Mom who will be 97 in May and is still going strong, was devoted to civil rights, environmental activism and intellectual pursuits.

Another aunt, 83, who until she finally succumbed to the numbing mental stagnation of Altzeimers two and a half years ago, was the life of every party she ever attended, a source of joy and fun to everyone who crossed her path. And my very special aunt, the baby of her siblings at 81 whose career has included time being a Carmelite Nun, an elementary school teacher, a caretaker for her mother and later her handicapped brother, and who never in her life has left a debt unpaid or an opportunity to help others unchosen.

These wonderful people have NEVER dragged down our society. They have all helped make it great! Hard working as long as they worked (my 89 year old mother-in-law until two days before she died). Voters in every election for candidates they believed WERE BEST FOR THE COUNTRY. That's right. Not for any personal agenda they had - for the good of the country they loved.

Collectors of Social Security and Medicare? Those that qualified, yes. Some, as public servants, did not qualify. Some contributed to the Social Security System from its very beginning. And it enabled some of them to live independent, dignified lives to the end of their lives.

Where did the idea come from that our elderly citizens drag our country down? Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of them played a major role in building it up!

Are the Old Folks I personally know the exceptions? Hard to swallow that when so many of them have given so much so consistently for so long.

Just saying.