attitude towards old age. How beautiful is old age? Essay about the older generation

Topic: "Respectful attitude to old age"
Goal: drawing attention to the problems of the elderly, raising awareness of the problem of the demographic aging of society, the individual and social needs of older people, their contribution to the development of society, the need to change attitudes towards older people;
Tasks:

Show the importance of older people in the development of society, the education of young people;

To continue the formation of the moral qualities of the individual: humanity, mercy, compassion, nobility, the ability to come to the rescue.
Equipment: multimedia projector, Power Point presentation, video “About old age”, soundtracks of musical compositions (“And the years fly”, “How young we were”, Enrique Morricone “Autumn”).
Venue: classroom.

Form of event: hour of communication.

Beginning: video about old age.
Teacher: Guys, as you probably guessed, today's class hour will be about old age. This topic was not chosen by chance: every year on October 1, since 1991, the International Day of Older Persons is celebrated. In our country, this holiday is called the Day of the Elderly and is celebrated on the basis of
Presenter 1. The Day of the Elderly is a clean and bright holiday, a holiday of our parents, grandparents, a day when we give them our love, respect and appreciation.
Presenter 2. The purpose of the Day of the Elderly is to attract public attention to the problems of older people, to ensure their independence, participation in society, the necessary care and maintaining their dignity.
Presenter 1. As part of the Day of the elderly, free concerts, charity performances, film screenings, evenings of rest, amateur art competitions and sports competitions are held for the elderly. Events honoring centenarians, married couples, personal exhibitions of works by veterans are traditionally timed to coincide with the Day of the Elderly.
Teacher: And we dedicate today's class hour to this important event.

(Soundtrack of the song “And the years fly ...”)

Teacher: Yes, the years are inexorable. And as much as we would not like, but old age is inevitable. Let's turn to the explanatory dictionary to find out what is meant by the concept of "old age". (Slide 3)

(A preliminary task was given to two students, to whom the teacher is currently giving the floor):

Student 1. Old age is an age period in the life of an organism, inevitably coming after maturity and characterized by significant metabolic, structural and functional changes in organs and systems that limit the adaptive capabilities of the organism.
In old age, the appearance, working capacity, human psyche, and the course of many diseases change. The skin becomes thinner, becomes less elastic, wrinkles, age spots appear; hair turns gray, falls out; visual acuity decreases, clouding of the lens occurs up to the development of cataracts. The mobility of the joints is limited, mental performance decreases, fatigue occurs more easily, there is a weakening of memory for current events, and sleep is disturbed. The rate of aging, the degree of change in organs and systems are not the same in different people.
Student 2. Old age is a naturally occurring period of age development, the final stage of ontogeny. Aging is an inevitable biological destructive process leading to a gradual decrease in the adaptive capacity of the body; characterized by the development of age-related pathology and an increase in the likelihood of death.
Teacher: The time of old age is conditional. Men and women aged 55-60 to 75 are considered elderly, those over 75 are old, and those over 90 are long-livers. It is assumed that the species life expectancy of a person is 92-95 years.
Although many facts of longevity are known in history: “All the days of Adamova's life were 930 years old and he died. All the days of Noah were 950 years old and he died. All the days of Methuselah were 930 years and he died,” says the Holy Scripture. This is data related to biblical characters. There, old age, like life, was long and not completely clear to us. You can talk about it for a long time and even write about it. But after all, Holy Scripture was not thrown down from heaven, it was written by mere mortals who lived on earth and, undoubtedly, died at an age at which, as usual, modern people die even now. People who live much less than biblical heroes! A person in 70 - 80 years old is now a very old man.
Let's think about this and for a few minutes imagine ourselves in the place of an aged person.
Presenter 1 (against the background of the slow composition "Autumn" by Enrique Morricone):

What is the life of an old man - (Slides 4 - 10)

Of course, lousy:

And the pension is small

And the clothes are sewn

And the kids don't care

And white light - with a pretty penny ...

But you have to survive somehow

Even on the edge, on a bench!

But the old man had

Once upon a time life is good

Cossack girls loved

And black horses;

And from dawn to dawn

The body did not know tired -

And now (well, at least die!)

All paths are tangled...
Now enough shred -

Better not ask! -

An old man's thoughts

Knocked down alive:

Where is this world going?

With a computer and a player?

And the grandson is fanning - a vampire

I dream with a bloody fan ...

What is the life of an old man?

No matter how you judge, but the past!

The rich man, the poor man

There is nothing good!
Teacher: It's no secret that old people annoy us. They are slow, they are forgetful, they are grouchy, they are capricious like children. But let's think about why they are.
Presenter 2. Slow - because they can no longer physically be fast and nimble, because old age is a time of gradual decline in vitality. There are more and more things to do and pleasures about which you have to say: “This is not for me.” An aging person can no longer realize many of his desires. (Slide 11)
Presenter 3. They are forgetful, because old age destroys and renders useless all human organs and systems: hearing, vision, smell, and touch are reduced. I am tormented by obvious changes in appearance, not for the better. They peer with fear into a mirror that is cruel in its truthfulness: wrinkles, lethargy and sagging of the skin, cloudy eye color ... (Slide 12)
Lead 4. They are grouchy, because this quality is also an attribute of old age. Each age has its own characteristics. So the old people have them - grumble, remember the past, teach. (Slide 13)
Teacher. We are not offended by a baby when he screams! This is his age feature - he is supposed to scream. Do not be offended by the old people - they are supposed to grumble and teach by age.
“Old people have the right to teach and advise. Know how to respect this moral right,” wrote V.A. Sukhomlinsky.
Presenter 1. Oh, this grandmother! It bothers, considers it small, makes you eat when you don’t feel like it at all. He interferes in everything, makes comments. Wraps up when everyone in the yard has been running around naked for a long time. And then he will come to school in the rain and stand with a raincoat and an umbrella. Well, what to do with such a grandmother? (Slide 14)
Teacher. So what to do, guys, with such a grandmother? Why is she behaving like this?
(organized communication)
Teacher. And most importantly, guys, you need to be able to forgive. How much does she forgive you? We must be able to endure - this is a close person. Protect, protect. Let her consider you small and helpless, because you yourself know that in many ways you are stronger than her, healthier, faster. You have to know how to love. Love for the fact that the grandmother "gives" her life to you. Love because your grandmother has much less to live than you, and because old age is a rather difficult and sad time in life. All her personal life is behind her - worries, joys, anxieties, an interesting life, hopes. And only you are her only concern, her last joy, her constant anxiety, her main vital interest, her secret hope.
Presenter 2. Often the life of a family - washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning the apartment, lie on the shoulders of our grandmothers. And the resting place for the grandmother is reserved, as a rule, in the kitchen. But the granddaughter or grandson have a separate room. In a word, everything for children and grandchildren and nothing for yourself! And what is the answer?
Teacher. Now I will read to you the story of Vil Kazykhanov, which, in my opinion, very accurately conveys the attitude of many of us and society as a whole towards the infirm old people.
“This house is located on the outskirts of the city in a sparsely populated area. Old people live there, who came from different parts of our country. And the reasons for their coming here, of course, are completely different: some never had children and therefore, having grown old, they found refuge here, others could not find a place in the families of their own children, others could not find a common language with their daughters-in-law or grandchildren, fourth … However, is it worth sorting out all the existing reasons. It is extremely clear, like a sunny day, that no one has run away from a good life here.
Finding this nursing home is not that hard. A narrow path leads to it from the bus stop, after walking along it for about two hundred meters, you bump into the doors of a gray two-story building. Its windows are dim, which makes it seem that some kind of cold is blowing from the house. Not a tree grows around it, not a single bush, not even flower beds. In the courtyard (if you can call the space in front of the house, where there is no fence) in the mornings and evenings, three or four pairs of old people walk about, talking to each other about something. Stray dogs sometimes follow them, hoping to get something to eat, but they soon fall behind.
However, the old people do not hurt - they pay attention to them, the dogs simply - simply run away further down the street in search of a more friendly place.
The favorite place of the old people in the yard is the very site where the asphalt path connects with the path running up from the bus stop. They will sit on rough-hewn benches and sit for a long time, pensively fixing their eyes on the road along which buses and cars pass. They are desperately waiting for someone, but few people are here. Once upon a time, their relatives, at least occasionally, visit their parents, grandmothers, friends ... And if anyone comes here, it is only to leave another elderly person in the care of the nurses and housewives of this house.
Here a young woman appeared on the path, leading by the arm an old woman with a large bundle in her hands. This woman is 25 - 30 years old, all full of health and irrepressible energy, so that the old woman can hardly keep up with her. She began to hint: "Daughter, can't it be quieter, it's hard for me to breathe." But in response, she heard a cry that brooked no objection:
“I have to be home by six o’clock in the evening!” One of Alyosha's friends has a birthday today.
Realizing that further conversation was useless, the old woman tried her best to keep up with the young woman. Having stepped onto the porch of the house, the woman somehow brightened up and, sighing with relief, loudly said: “Thank God, finally, we have reached!”. True, there was no one around who could share her joy. Having instructively told the old woman: "You stay here, and I'll see if there is a director," she, opening the front doors wide, hurried inside the building. However, before the old woman, having taken off her faded scarf, even smoothed her hair that had gone astray, she heard a joyful voice:
- Come on, grandma, let's go! Director at home. But somewhere he is in a hurry, so you need to quickly get to him.
The old woman hurriedly took the heavy bundle in her hands and followed the woman. They were met by a gray-haired, short, stocky, affable man about fifty years old.
-Come in, please, sit down, - he said, getting up from his seat, I am the owner of this house. Who will you be?
The woman took out a bundle from her purse, carelessly wrapped in a newspaper. And put in front of the director on the table:
- Here, read. Here, by the way, everything is written.
The director, without saying a word in response, took glasses from the table, took out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, slowly, carefully wiped the glasses glasses. Then he untied the ribbon on the parcel and, unfolding the documents that were there, without raising his eyes, asked:
-Khanum, who are you Marfuga ebi?
-How is it by whom? Daughter, of course.
- Daughter? Excuse me, is she your birth mother?
“Yes,” the woman answered, not at all embarrassed, and in turn asked:
- Is there something wrong with the documents? I was assured in SOBES that "everything is in order."
"Of course, of course, 'it's all right,' the headmaster said half ironically."
Teacher. Is it really "all right" in this situation? What do you think about this?
(organized communication)
Teacher. Let's listen to the end of this sad story.
“Of course, of course,“ everything is in order, ”the director said semi-ironically, glancing at the woman,“ only one thing is not clear to me: for how long, how long do you leave your mother with us?

And the woman had a quick answer to this question:

It's not about me. She wanted to be here.
- Yes, yes, - supported her mother, - I asked for it myself. I wanted to live more freely. As long as you allow me, I will live as long as I can.

Delighted by the support of her mother, the woman seemed to perk up and added:

How many times Alyosha and I persuaded her to stay. Doesn't agree to any. She rested on her own, like a village bull. And that's it!...

Now everything has become clear to me, - said the director, sighing heavily and getting up again. Now you, khanum, can safely leave, and you, grandmother, wait a bit ...

When the woman, without even saying goodbye, left the room, the director came close to the old woman and asked directly:
- Tell me honestly, did you come here of your own free will?

But where does such a desire come from, son! she answered in a trembling voice. After the death of my husband, my daughter and her husband moved in with me. From that day on, I never knew peace. I could no longer endure insults and asked to be taken to you in my old age. So don't blame the old woman."

Teacher. What do you think the old woman could not bear? What did her own daughter dopekat?
(Organized conversation)
Host 3. John Lennon once very subtly remarked: “No one notices you when you are a graying old man. But everyone starts to love you when you have three feet of ground above you. This is because the dead are easy to love. They no longer require anything and do not cause inconvenience and trouble.
Teacher. The period when grandparents grow old and need care and daily care is a special test. A weak and helpless person needs to be fed, swaddled (change clothes, diapers), washed, taken out for a walk in a wheelchair, buy expensive medicines and listen to endless complaints about what hurts, where it hurts, where it cuts ... Often in response to such complaints they hear that it is time for them to die, but they keep crying, and go to the doctors. And the doctors themselves often treat such patients coldly. But one elderly woman said very well about this: “Of course, you won’t make me young and healthy. But you can alleviate my condition.
Indeed, old people are in pain. We can't even imagine it yet. We have a little headache or a runny nose - this is a reason to see a doctor, get treatment, eliminate discomfort in the body. And in old age, pain sensations are much more acute, in old age it hurts in more than one place, the whole body suffers - there is an irreversible process of its destruction.
Look at yourself, at your parents: perhaps your behavior towards the elderly, towards grandparents deserves condemnation, and now is the time to reconsider it. Mercy, kindness, responsiveness, selflessness - these are the qualities that adorn the life of any person, and it is in the manifestation of such qualities on your part that the people closest to you need.
Adult children are required to care for their parents and grandparents in the same way that they took care of them in childhood.
You are still very young. Youth is beautiful because at this time you simply do not think about old age. Youth is not afraid of old age. She does not know and does not understand. For the most part, she doesn't like her. Youth believes that it will never grow old, and if this happens, it will not be soon. Maybe in another life. But alas, in fact, human life is very fleeting. Almost all aged people talk about how quickly the years have flown by, how little they have done, and how they regret their youth. Old age is temporary, it affects everyone. Sooner or later, the moment will come when each of us will be in the place of today's old people. And if we want our old age to be calm and comfortable, then we must already respect it now, be indulgent and merciful towards the elderly.
“If you want children to honor you in old age, honor old people yourself,” says a Russian proverb.
- I suggest that you now draw up a set of rules that reflect the attitude towards the elderly. Let's continue: "Old people have the right to ... (respect, care, love, attention of others ...)
“The younger generation should not ... (offend, humiliate, insult ... their grandparents)
Presenter 1. The true humanity of a society, whether a family or an individual, is determined, first of all, by the attitude towards children and the elderly, towards the most defenseless and in need of our relatives. And for self-knowledge, for comprehending hidden features and one's own nature, the most accurate criteria are sympathy, kind-hearted attention not only to those who have and can, but also to those who have already given everything.
Lead 2.
For cheerful spring branches

Roots are more than relatives...

Take care of old people

From resentment, cold, fire.

Behind them -

The rumble of attacks

Years of hard work

Throughout the history of mankind, the topic of aging and death has been relevant. For centuries, thinkers and philosophers have been discussing the causes of aging, alchemists have been looking for the elixir of eternal youth and immortality, and many religions have attached special sacred and mystical meaning to aging. According to researchers in the field of biology, aging and death are basic, essential biological properties that reflect the functioning and evolution of all living organisms, including humans. Paradoxical as it may seem, but death is happiness for a dying person, because after death he ceases to be mortal. Is it possible to avoid the manifestation of these basic essential biological properties that are inherent in all living things? The question is rhetorical. But despite all its meaninglessness, world religions such as Buddhism and Christianity have their own answers to it. According to Buddhist legend, one of the sixteen closest disciples of Buddha Gautama, the arhat Pindola Bharadwaja (at the request of his teacher) should remain on earth until the next Buddha Maitreya comes and teach the Dharma to all living beings.

Christian roots The possibilities of human immortality can be found in the Gospel of Matthew (16:28), which quotes the following words of Jesus: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” This disciple is considered the evangelist John himself, who is supposedly alive to this day and awaiting the return of the Savior to earth.

Another immortal Christian character has many names: Ahasuerus (Eternal Jew), Espera-Dios (hope in God), Butadeus (hitting God), Cartaphilus (pretoria watchman). According to Christian legend, during the suffering journey of Jesus Christ to Golgotha, a Jew named Ahasuerus insultingly refused him a short rest and ordered him to go further, and according to one version, he even hit him. For this offense he was punished. He had to wander the world forever until the Second Coming of Christ, knowing neither rest, nor aging, nor death, like Cain, whom God doomed to wander, forbidding to take his life.

If you take a closer look at this image, then the structural principle of the legend is a double paradox, when dark and light change places twice. Immortality, the desired goal of human efforts, in this case turns into a curse, and the curse turns into mercy (the possibility of redemption). In the books of K. Castaneda there is one very interesting character who managed to become immortal. His name is Tenant or Death Defier. This is an even more mysterious and powerful magician than don Juan or Silvio Manuel ... The tenant is an ancient Mexican magician who lives (in an organic body) for several thousand years! According to Castaneda, the Tenant can acquire or “dissolve” his flesh at will, become either a woman or a man, and, most importantly, he has learned to manipulate his assemblage point so that he postpones his biological death for an unlimited period. And the most interesting thing is that the existence of the arhat Pindola Bharadwaj, the Evangelist John, Ahasuerus, the Tenant and other famous characters who escaped aging and death, no one can ever prove or disprove.

When a person approaches the end of his life's journey, he sadly asks himself the question whether he is destined to see those alluring horizons that spread out there ahead, and a natural question arises: "What are the time limits of old age?" In practice, in everyday life, the boundaries between the period of maturity and the onset of old age are subtle and strictly individual. There are no calendar dates for the onset of old age and cannot exist. The well-known expression of the German writer Franz Kafka “Forty years is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age” is hardly the key to understanding the boundaries of human age. Usually, when talking about old people, they are guided by the age of retirement, but the latter is far from being the same in different countries, for different professional groups, men and women.

The problem of periodization of human development began to be studied in the period of antiquity. The first to propose an age periodization of development were Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Aristotle. Pythagoras(VI century BC) distinguished four periods in a person's life:

spring (the formation of a person) - from birth to 20 years;

To date, there is no single generally accepted classification of age periods of human development, although at different times numerous attempts have been made to create age periodization. As a result, many different classifications appeared, and a single classification was never created. interesting classification by J. Birren (1964) distinguishing eight phases of human life development:

The first phase - infancy, covers the period up to 2 years.

According to WHO(World Health Organization), the term “aging” seems more convenient, indicating a gradual and continuous process, rather than a definite and always arbitrarily set age limit. In accordance with the classification of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, old age lasts for men from 61 to 74 years, for women from 55 to 74 years, and from 75 years old age begins. People over the age of 90 are considered long-livers, the 65-year milestone is often highlighted, as in many countries this is the retirement age. But this is only a gradation of biological age. More and more researchers come to the conclusion that the essence of age is not limited to the duration of existence, measured by the number of years lived. The metric property of time indicates only quantitative indicators of age. It very roughly captures the physiological and social state of a person. In jurisprudence, calendar age serves as the basis for prohibiting or permitting various social roles (occupying certain positions in government and administration) or behavior at the appropriate age. The fulfillment of these roles in accordance with certain social norms and regulations determines the social age of a person, which often does not coincide with the calendar age.

In modern society, in the context of globalization, old age and old people are treated in two ways: negatively and positively. The arguments of supporters of a negative attitude towards old age are similar to the gloomy revelation of the father of Protestantism, Martin Luther, "Old age is a living grave." The state or private pension funds with a sour grimace pay pensions to hated pensioners and look forward to "When the hell will you!"

Supporters of a positive attitude argue like Voltaire: "For a fool, old age is a burden, for an ignoramus - winter, and for a man of science - a golden harvest." And such arguments are not unfounded. As you know, the magnitude of the decline in intelligence with age is inversely proportional to its greatest value. This means that the higher the initial level of intelligence, the weaker the decline in old age. In the most intelligent people, instead of the typical decline, there is often even an increase in the level of intelligence with age. The human unknown stretches very far, but it still remains within the realm of our possibilities.

An analysis of the literature on the psychology of old age and aging, an examination of the biographies of creative personalities who lived to old age, showed that old age as a psychological age may not come in a person's life. The condition for continuing or growing maturity is creativity in all its manifestations, including the creativity of one's own life, every day of it. Evidence of possible physical and mental longevity can serve famous historical figures:

Michelangelo, sculptor, painter - 89 years old.

Paradoxically, a lot has been written about old age, but little is known for certain. The emotional disturbances associated with thinking about death, the experiences of grief and loneliness, and even the joyful experiences of the elderly are mysterious and original. The very late age of an aging person remains a mystery. Until now, the greatest secret of old age remains unsolved, which lies in the fact that chronological peers of this age can be classified as different psychological ages.

One old man is experiencing love - he returned to the period of youth. 16-year-old young lady Ulrika von Bülow fell in love with 82-year-old Goethe and married him a year later. Jean-Paul Belmondo at the age of 72 married a 19-year-old model and gave birth to a wonderful daughter. The famous philosopher Confucius was born when his father was 91 years old, and his mother was 16. Lermontov's father, when the great Russian poet was born, was 56, and his mother was 19. And there are a lot of such examples. The other continues his creative professional activity - he is in adulthood (scientists, politicians, dictators, people of creative professions). The third (the vast majority of them) devotes their lives to passive survival, endless memories of the irrevocably gone past, caring for their own fading health, talking about doctors and medicines. In old age, a person is like an actor who sits among the audience and sadly watches someone else play his favorite roles.

Gerontology The science of old age identifies the following signs of aging:

1. Decreased functionality of the human body.

2. Progressive deterioration of health, decline in physical strength (when it takes more time to rest than to get tired).

3. Psychological changes occurring in a person (intellectual and emotional withdrawal into one's inner world, experiences associated with the assessment and understanding of the life lived). The idea of ​​the frailty of being and the transient nature of everything that exists no longer seems so abstract. Yesterday's truths disappear, like petals in the wind, there is a reassessment of the basic values ​​of life. For the elderly, it becomes indisputable and obvious that life is not endless and time is short.

4. Depression is the most important and common problem in both normal and pathological aging. For the first time that in old age people are very prone to depression, Galen spoke in the 2nd century. He detailed the connection between melancholy and old age. On average, in old age, depression reaches its highest level at age 65. The constant companions of depression are anger, which sometimes takes the form of self-blame.

5. Among people of creative professions, well-known and even famous, depression is especially acute. It is difficult for a creative person who has survived the glory of popular fame and love to come to terms with the extinction of not only his talent, but also his mind.

6. In old age, a person turns to faith: he begins to go to church more often or enters into a direct dialogue with the Creator through prayer. A bountiful harvest is gathered by various sectarians who offer their help and support in exchange for movable and immovable property of gullible old people. One way or another, but in old age, in one form or another, everyone experiences faith in the immortality of the soul. It is experienced, poorly translated into the language of words, but I really want to believe that with the onset of death, everything is just beginning.

7. Gradual reduction of the circle of close people, especially from among peers, exacerbation of the feeling of kinship and attachment to the family, close people. Grandchildren are especially loved, who over time will avenge their parents for their grandparents ...

8. The onset of the socio-economic “threshold” established by the state - access to a well-deserved or undeserved pension (social isolation, loss of the former status and the set of benefits offered to it, a significant decrease in income sources, a narrowing of the circle of social roles, a transition from a team of players to a team of viewers) .

The problem of aging and old age makes us think about how inevitable, determined, fatal old age is as a psychological age. Obviously, in terms of biological age, "there is no cure for old age." Whether we like it or not, the law of natural selection has always acted and continues to operate in nature, and therefore old individuals are extremely rare in natural conditions. Before they become old, they either die themselves, or they are destroyed by their own relatives.

According to some modern researchers, a living organism (man is no exception) is genetically based on biological activity that extends only to the period of its so-called biological “usefulness”. At the genetic level, a special program tracks the development of a biological organism from birth until it reaches sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce. After the implementation of the reproduction program or its non-fulfillment, the activity of the hypothalamus and the endocrine system is disrupted, which leads the body to a decrease in its physiological functions.

But psychological age- it's quite different. A person passes into a different age in connection with a change in the social situation of development. And if it does not change, that is, if a person is not excluded from the system of social ties (continues to work, engage in socially useful activities, science, creativity), then does he enter the age of “psychological old age”? Perhaps the answer to this question is contained in the biography of the Russian writer and thinker Count L.N. Tolstoy, who, as is known, suffered from gerontophobia for the last 30 years of his life, repeatedly came to the idea of ​​suicide, but a few years before his death he created the story "Hadji Murat". The idea for the story was born in July 1896, when Tolstoy saw a burdock broken by a wheel and mangled on the road and wrote in his diary that the burdock reminded him of Hadji Murad. The story strikes with the novelty of feelings, life-affirming perception of the surrounding world and the complete absence of any fear of old age and physical death. The reader gets the feeling that the work was written by the writer at a young age, and not at the end of his life.

Summing up the above, one cannot but dwell on the main question of the topic: “Is spiritual harmony possible in old age? How to prevent or at least mitigate the crisis of old age? The recipe for eternal youth of the Soviet period “I will not part with the Komsomol, I will be forever young” stopped working in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR.

Soviet agitation and propaganda, the “historical” decisions of the CPSU congresses, and promises to live under communism in the 80s were now remembered like a nightmare. Together with the collapse of the USSR, the nationwide system of communist education collapsed, aimed at the formation of a new person who harmoniously combines spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection. Belief in a bright communist future, in which there is a place for a happy and peaceful old age and a secure pension, has been replaced by the bestial grin of Asian capitalism. The taste of bitterness before the inevitability of meeting old age-catastrophe, old age-degradation of the post-Soviet period contributed to the process of mortification (mortification) of the still temporarily living old people - pensioners.

The spiritual harmony of old age is a whole complex of terms, which begins with the state-legal regulation of the status of older people and ends with the colossal inner work of the person himself. Life can and should end with old age-harmony, old age-wisdom, and for this it is worth living and living to a ripe old age, and leaving the Dorian Gray syndrome to narcissists.

Abstract on the topic:

Problems of aging

Andreeva A.M. – student

Loginova M.V. - scientific. Supervisor

The problems of aging have occupied humanity since ancient times, intertwined with the broader problem of life and longevity.

The decrease with age of a person's physical capabilities is compensated by the accumulated professional skills, knowledge, experience, and skill acquired throughout life. Older people react differently to changes that occur with age. What will be the reaction depends on the individual qualities of the person, on the characteristics of his character, on principles and values, on how a person looks at his environment and life in general. Some of them fix in themselves signs of old age, try to isolate themselves, retire, contrary to their own desires and interests. The second - try to emphasize their activity, do everything on a par with the young, take on new things, carry a huge load and, one might say, do not grow old in soul. Still others try to do everything that was not possible in their youth. Fourth - somewhat exaggerate their old age, avoiding solving some important problems. Fifth - they critically perceive the younger generation, all the new changes in the life around them, they are constantly in an angry mood. And for some, the life lived in general seems unsuccessful, they are tormented by the realization that they have achieved little in life, that nothing awaits them ahead.

What is the reason for such reactions? Why do negative reactions predominate?

Most likely the main reason is that old age is the final phase in human development, the last stage of development. The feeling that life is ending, the approach of death, something unknown causes a feeling of fear, danger, insecurity, and only faith in something bright and high, sincere love and care of loved ones can get rid of this. This may be why many older people turn to God, even if they were unbelievers in the past.

Aging is an irreversible process. The body grows old, but the soul does not want to grow old. Almost every person wants to stay young and beautiful all his life. Watching how the body is aging, physical and mental capabilities are narrowing, a feeling of weakness also causes a negative attitude towards old age.

In later years, there is a change in the usual way of life. Retirement also causes negative emotional experiences. For many, this means that professional activity and activity in general is over. There is a feeling of uselessness, a feeling of emptiness. There are also financial hardships associated with retirement. Someone skillfully gets rid of them, having the opportunity to stay at their job or find another job that will generate income. Someone will help their children, raise their grandchildren, look for new activities for themselves, thereby compensating for what they have lost. And someone will be very worried, inactive.

Aging narrows the possibilities of a person, changes his consciousness, psychology. An old person is visited by thoughts of possible helplessness, the danger of loneliness is frightening. For people living alone, it is useful to unite in groups for mutual assistance.

It is important to use the wisdom and experience of these people. It is useful to involve them in the social work of clubs, councils of veterans, and health groups. This gives an opportunity for older people to unite according to their interests.

Meeting for communication, reading literature, poetry, and a festive table with tea, they do not feel lonely, withdrawn from society, forgotten. This will undoubtedly make their old age more active.

It is necessary to encourage older people to do their best work, creativity, participation in the upbringing of the older generation, because “children” without “fathers” are orphans.

Our old people are our past, and what it will be depends only on us, on what we will make our present. Will we return the values ​​of the family, mutual respect for each other, respect for the elders, will we be able to keep them, or will we live only for ourselves, selfishly consume everything that life gives us, forgetting about honor and dignity, about those who gave us life, raised and educated, who gave us the way to the future?

No wonder they say that the health of society can be judged by its attitude towards the elderly.

Satisfaction with life in old age depends on many existential factors: meaningfulness of life, acceptance of one’s life path (consciousness that life has not been lived in vain), preservation of professional identity (continuation of work in one’s specialty), the presence of a concept of the future and activities filled with meaning (for example, , raising grandchildren, gardening, social work).

Material and living conditions and the health factor, to a lesser extent than existential factors, affect life satisfaction in old age (MP Belsky, 2010).

The American psychologist Pekk writes about two crises of this period. The first is a reassessment of one's own I, regardless of a professional career, that is, a person must answer first of all to himself and for himself: “Who am I, what am I” - after retirement, when scientists and military ranks, high and low positions? The second is awareness of the fact of deteriorating health and aging of the body and getting an answer to the question: “Who am I” - without a beautiful hairstyle, a slender figure and good health? It is more difficult for a man to overcome the first crisis, and for women - the second one.

People review their lives, and many experience disappointment because they are dissatisfied with their achievements, it seems to them that they have not received something, that they have not been given enough. Let us recall the words of Firs from A.P. Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”: “They forgot about me ... Life has passed, as if it had never lived ... I don’t have Silushka, there’s nothing left, nothing ... Oh, you ... stupid!”

The American poet W. Whitman expressed his attitude towards old age when he was 69 years old:

Decrepit, sick, I sit and write,

And it pains me to think that grouchiness

And the boredom of my old man's years,

Drowsiness, pain, constipation,

Despondency, grumpy gloominess

Can seep into my songs.

The despondency of the elderly can be understood, but it is better to understand something else: if a person has lived to a respectable age, this is already good luck. And the ancient philosopher Lucius Annei Seneca, by the standards of his time - a long-liver (he lived 70 years), assured: "Old age is full of pleasures, you just need to be able to use them."

…

Not everyone can find an application for their strengths and abilities, their place in a new stage of life. Then there is a mood of depression. The next step is depression. Depressed mood and depression can be caused by various reasons and have different degrees of expression. They can have varying degrees of expression - from unwillingness to take care of their appearance to thoughts of suicide during prolonged depression. From not wanting to shave to wanting to slash your veins with a razor is a huge distance. And yet, unshaven cheeks and uncleaned shoes are a sure sign of a loss of interest in life. Older men are more than three times as likely to be suicidal as younger men and about as much as their peers. Moreover, such statistics are in all the republics of the CIS, but Russia is distinguished by the largest number of suicides.

V. D. Alperovich, 1998.

But there are people who are inclined to praise the "charm of old age." Their physical weakening is compensated by a high spiritual upsurge. Therefore, the period preceding the onset of old age and senile indisposition is called the “best years”. This is what is meant when they talk about happy old age. L. N. Tolstoy, for example, said: “I never thought that old age was so attractive,” and K. I. Chukovsky wrote in his diary: “I never knew that it was so joyful to be an old man, that not a day was my thoughts are kinder and brighter.

The image of the old man, which exists in traditional ideas, does not correspond to the opinion of the so-called old people about themselves. According to studies conducted by E. Piotrovsky, V. D. Shapiro, only a minority of older people (over 65 years old) consider themselves old people, and about 25% of those surveyed think that they are in their prime, or consider themselves middle age.

N. F. Shakhmatov studied the life position of older people who considered their old life successful and even happy. It was revealed that these people are focused not on the past and the future, but on the present. They perceive their senile existence without any reservations and without plans to change something for the better. This leads to the development of a new, calm, contemplative and self-sufficient life position. Today's state of health, ailments, everyday life are perceived tolerantly as a given. New interests appear that were not previously characteristic of this person. Many begin to engage in creativity (poetry, drawing, etc.), take part in social work, help the sick and the weak. Often, overcoming their loneliness, they give birth to pets. There is a significant reassessment of values: positions of authority, honorary titles and awards, material values ​​acquired during life, lose their attractiveness and seem insignificant.

…

The scary thing is that the older you get, the more you feel that the more precious (in terms of impact on the world) the life force in you becomes, and it’s scary to spend it on the wrong thing for which it is intended, as if it (life) is insisting and infused (in youth you can splash it - it is without infusion) and in the end life is thick, all one infusion.

In extreme old age, others, and often the old people themselves, usually think that they are only living out a century. On the contrary, in extreme old age there is the most precious, necessary life both for oneself and for others. The value of life is inversely proportional to the squared distance from death. It would be good if both the old people themselves and those around them understood this.

L. N. Tolstoy. Collected works: V 20 t. M., 1965. T. 20. S. 21, 233.

Fear of death

A feature of the experiences of older people is the approach of death, which, despite its inevitability, most people are afraid of and seek to push back the date of its onset.

LN Yurieva cites data from foreign sociological surveys. Studies of 1,000 residents of Chicago revealed the relevance of the topic of death for almost all elderly people. They are philosophical about death and tend to perceive it on an emotional level more as a prolonged sleep than as a source of suffering; in 70% of the elderly, thoughts about death related to preparations for it (28% made a will; 25% had already prepared some funeral equipment and half had already discussed their death with their next of kin) (Hinton, 1972).

However, the majority of respondents in the UK avoided this topic and answered the questions as follows: “I try to think as little as possible about death and dying”, “I try to switch to other topics”, etc.

In the experiences associated with death, not only age, but also gender differentiation is quite clearly manifested.

K. Beck (Back, 1974) came to the conclusion that men are more opposed to death than women: this topic evokes in them associations imbued with fear and disgust. In women, the “Harlequin complex” is described, in which death seems mysterious and even attractive in some ways.

A different picture of the psychological attitude towards death was obtained 20 years later.

The National Agency for the Development of Science and Space Research of France studied the problem of thanatology based on the materials of a sociological study of more than 20 thousand French people. The data obtained were published in one of the issues of "Regards sur l'actualité" (1993) - the official publication of the French State Documentation Center, which publishes statistical materials and reports on the most important problems for the country. The results showed that thoughts about death are especially relevant for people aged 35–44, and in all age groups, women more often think about the end of life, which is clearly reflected in Table 1. 10.2.

Table 10.2. Distribution of frequency of occurrence of thoughts about death by age and sex, %

In women, thoughts about death are most often accompanied by fear and anxiety, men treat this problem more balanced and rationally, and in a third of cases they are completely indifferent. The attitude towards death in men and women is reflected in Table. 10.3.

Table 10.3. Distribution of thoughts about attitudes towards death by gender, %

The subjects, who treated the problem of death with indifference or calmness, explained this by the fact that, in their opinion, there are more terrible conditions than death (Table 10.4).

Table 10.4. Events more terrible than death, %

Therefore, the most universal desire for all those tested was a quick departure from life; 90% of the respondents answered that they would like to die in their sleep, avoiding suffering.

Psychologists say that the fear of death is a purely human feeling, not a single animal has this. That is why it can be overcome. Philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle, sought to overcome the tragedy of death, to free a person from the fear of it. Plato relied on ideas about the immortality of the soul and wrote that real philosophers prepare for death all their lives; but it would be absurd if, in their tireless pursuit of this one goal, they would withdraw from it and fear when death would overtake them. Aristotle also believed in an immortal spirit that continues to live after death.

Cicero, relying on this idea, wrote: “That is why old age for me is not only devoid of sorrow, but, on the contrary, full of charm ... If I am mistaken in believing in the immortality of the soul, then I love this illusion and do not want it to be taken away from me while I'm alive." Subsequently, the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul and the afterlife was entrenched in various religious beliefs.

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus gave a simple and witty argument against the fear of death: “Death does not really exist for a person, he “does not meet” with it. As long as it exists, there is no death. When it is there, it is not. Therefore, it is not to be feared." Marcus Aurelius said: "It is childish to be afraid of what is in the nature of things." P. Bragg argues that death should be accepted as inevitable and the eternal fear of it should be thrown out of the head. "Youth is a preparation for old age, life is a preparation for death."

…

Dying, we tell ourselves, is like falling asleep. Such expressions take place not only in our everyday language and thinking, but also in the centuries-old literature of different peoples. Such expressions were in ancient Greece. For example, in the Iliad, Homer calls sleep "the brother of death" ... The same analogy is used in modern language. I mean the expression "to put to sleep". When you bring a dog to the vet asking to be put down, you usually mean something very different than when you ask the anesthesiologist to put your wife or husband to put down. Other people prefer a different but similar analogy. Dying, they say, is like forgetting. When a person dies, he forgets all his sorrows, all painful and unpleasant memories disappear.

No matter how old and widespread these analogies, both with "falling asleep" and with "forgetting", they still cannot be considered completely satisfactory. Each of them says the same thing. Although they say it in a slightly more pleasant way, nevertheless they both claim that death is in fact simply the disappearance of our consciousness forever. If so, then death does not really have any of the appeal of falling asleep or forgetting. Sleep is pleasant and desirable for us because it is followed by awakening. A night's sleep, giving us rest, makes the waking hours more pleasant and productive. If there was no awakening, all the benefits of sleep simply would not exist. Similarly, the annihilation of all our conscious experience implies the disappearance not only of painful memories, but also of all pleasant ones. Thus, on closer examination, none of the analogies is so adequate as to give us real comfort or hope in the face of death.

R. Moody, 1990, pp. 140–141.

The poet Ilya Selvinsky expressed his attitude towards death in the following verse:

To be afraid of death is like being afraid of sleep.

She is not at all scary for the spirit,

Only our body is afraid of death,

But this is a completely different matter.

Death torment from dashing!

But how many times have we experienced them

During life! How many died

Not dead. So, isn't it about time

Rise above death? After all, she

We have been given hundreds of rebirths.

We will rise not at the Lord's throne,

And under the sculpture of the god Electron:

A stubborn sculptor, he surely

One and the same sculpts all the centuries.

Many years ago, after reading this poem, I expressed my complete disagreement with it in the following verse:

"To be afraid of death is like being afraid of sleep" -

Selvinsky wrote so Ilya.

No, I do not agree with this!

I'm afraid of not sleep - non-existence.

I'm afraid there are many important things

I haven't been able to do it yet.

I'm afraid I still don't know

And he himself did not give everything to others ...

I'm afraid of many things

And I'm not parting with life!

We can agree with the opinion that it is useless to be afraid of death. “It has never happened before that a person who is afraid of death has reached a very old age,” says X. Hufeland. However, it is one thing to talk about the meaninglessness of this fear, and another thing not to experience it. After all, the cause of this fear is not the weakness of our body (“fear of the body”), but the human psyche, the understanding that his ties with relatives and friends will be broken and the person will not know what will happen after his death with children and grandchildren, with the development of the world ; that many things will remain unfinished, that his connection with the past and the future will cease. A. S. Dogel considers the fear of death as innate, which disappears only in very old people who are already tired of living and to whom life itself, like death, has become indifferent.

S. A. Miroshnikov et al. (2010) studied the unconscious fear of death using various experimental methods: recognition of words emerging from the background, free associative experiment, and others that used the presentation of death-related and neutral words. The results of the study confirmed the idea expressed by existential psychologists, “according to which the fear of death cannot be avoided, since a significant proportion of it is unconscious. The repression of the knowledge of death from consciousness does not free the organism from the fear associated with it at an unconscious level, and even, on the contrary, contributes to the growth of unconscious fear” (p. 288).

…

The public approach to death declared by modern Russian society is as follows: the death of a person is evil and grief, the dream of mankind is immortality. But along with it there is another, also public, "scientific" discourse, which originates in European recent history. In it, based on the social necessity of death, life is recognized as the highest, but limited good for each person, which he cannot use indefinitely. One must give way to others. It is clear that under such conditions, death loses the qualities of evil - if not publicly, then in silence.

A. Levinson, 2005.

The presence of this fear in old age often leads to various forms of psychological protection, in particular - the belief in existence after death. For believers with their ideas about the afterlife, the encounter with death may be easier than for atheists, for whom death is really a passing into oblivion (Alvarado et al., 1995). Older people also use regression, they begin to strive for childish forms of behavior. Another type of response is reactive formation, which involves the transformation of a negative affect into a positive one, or vice versa. For example, hatred - in love, attachment - in neglect. Related to this are the old people's beliefs that it used to be better than it is today. Also, older people may use denial when they refuse to accept the existence of a problem.

…

Man lives as long as he is afraid of death and fights for life. Only mentally ill people are not afraid of death, but in a state of dementia they strive for it.

The problem of death in the history of philosophy is traditional. But its consideration almost always acquired a psychological connotation among philosophers. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, F. Bacon, L. Tolstoy, M. Weber - they all sought to free a person from the fear of death and help overcome its tragedy<…>Seneca on the same occasion: "The attributes of death frighten more than death itself."

Francis Bacon was convinced that “people are afraid of death, like little children in the dark. But the fear of it as an inevitable tribute to nature is a weakness.

Spinoza generally rejected the problem of death: "A free man does not think so little about anything as about death, and his wisdom consists in thinking not about death, but about life."

We do suppose that<…>the philosophical maxims of the quoted philosophers have long been refuted by the practical research of I. I. Mechnikov, who spent a lot of time to confirm his hypothesis that by the end of the natural life span a person overcomes the fear of death and is ready to die peacefully, just as by the end of the working day he , freeing himself from fatigue, indulges in sleep ... But the search for the scientist ended in vain, even very old people experienced a clear desire to live. Overcoming the fear of death for an elderly person, as well as for a person of any age in general, is possible only in two cases: when this fear is overcome for the sake of life and in a state of dementia. Madness of the brave does not need to sing songs. Madness is madness.

Strong people overcome the fear of death, while the weak bend under its weight. Ilya Tolstoy (son of Leo Tolstoy) wrote in the book “My Memoirs”: “As a very persistent and physically strong nature, he [Leo Tolstoy] instinctively always struggled not only with death, but also with old age. After all, until the last year he never gave up - he did everything for himself, and even rode. Therefore, it is impossible to assume that he had absolutely no instinctive fear of death. He had this fear, and even to a large extent, and he constantly struggled with this fear. Did he defeat him? I will definitely answer yes."

Priest Yevlampy Kremensky in one of his sermons said: “Life for every person seems to be the greatest blessing. Even to the sufferer and the prisoner, she is very dear. It is pleasant for everyone to look at the light of God and to realize that they are alive.” The fear of death is a purely human feeling; no other animal has such a thing. Precisely because it is a human feeling, it can be overcome.

The hypothesis about the possibility of a “desired” death has never found real confirmation. As Boland explained in The Master and Margarita, man is not merely mortal, but is always suddenly mortal. Death is not feared by those who leave, but by those who remain. And this is humanly understandable. The death of a loved one, no matter how old he may be, is a difficult test. The ancient Japanese cult of ancestors looks attractive, they believed, and many still believe that a person after death continues to exist through his living descendants and only in the absence of such does he finally die. Deceased ancestors continue to be considered members of the "from" family - "spirits" who can punish, and therefore living ancestors - "future spirits" should be respected.

V. D. Alperovich, 1998.

Older people experience less anxiety at the thought of death than relatively young people (“we have already lived, there will be enough for our lifetime”). Those middle-aged people who have a clear purpose in life relate more easily to death (Kastenbaum, 1998). Fear of death appears more often in men than in women (Lang et al., 1994).

Similar information.

In October, the Okhta Lab space in St. Petersburg launched the Older Generation: Young Old project, dedicated to the liberalization of aging and how the image of old age is changing in the modern world. The lecture hall of the project has already discussed what the process of aging liberalization looks like from the point of view of social studies, and soon there will be a lecture on urban architecture for older people.

We invite you to reflect on how older people are perceived today and why this applies to everyone.

A child in society is a rather disenfranchised being. What to do, how to behave and how to act, adults explain to him. The child himself, in response to numerous directives and prohibitions, can only lament: “At first they closed me, then they didn’t give me a ball, nothing is allowed!”.

Subsequently, at puberty, we prove (and sometimes painfully win back from others) the right to subjectivity. In the modern world, this milestone of growing up is moving further and further. Many young people in terms of relationships with family and older members of society maintain semi-adolescent status throughout their studies at the university, and even after graduation.

And now, when the nightmare of growing up is over, and passed, a person becomes an adult both in the eyes of society and in his own feelings. Today in developed countries, as a rule, this moment comes when a person has passed the 20-year mark, but has not yet reached the 30-year mark.

But as soon as we get out of the lawlessness of youth, another period is already approaching on the other side of life, when our desires are limited from the outside, and our possibilities are reduced from the inside. So the period when we are considered independent and adequate people who control our lives becomes not so great.

In 2017, the retirement age in Russia is 55 years and six months for women and 60 years and six months for men.

It would seem that these are just numbers that cannot in any way affect our personality and relationships with other people (besides, even the numbers are shifting - within the framework of Russian legislation, the retirement age is pushed back by half a year every year). However, "retirement" is an event that has great symbolic significance, especially in countries with a socialist past. The law does not prohibit continuing to work after reaching retirement age, and many people use this opportunity. At the same time, there are tacitly accepted ideas about what a “retired person” should do, as well as a list of concepts with which a pensioner is associated.

In Russia, among the “tags of old age” there will definitely be trips to the dacha, seedlings, metro carts, addiction to home cooking, a shop near the house, scandals in post offices, crossword puzzles in newspapers and TV. It is common to make fun of this in society, but at the same time, it is seriously assumed that the elderly need to “settle down”, turn to traditional activities like gardening, listen to music and read books from their youth, watch old films and tell grandchildren stories from the past. .

At the same time, older people (again, by an unspoken social contract) are often denied a lot of important things: new hobbies, breadth of interests, acquaintances and friendships, romance and sexuality, change, communication and fun; in general, in atypical behavior that does not fit into the ideas of eldership.

Today in the Western world, one in seven people is over 60 years old, and in thirty years one in four will be that age.

Not far off is the moment when representatives of generation X will retire, and after them the turn of millennials will come. It is clear that the pension context must undergo changes. By changing attitudes towards old age today, we can influence not only the situation of today's older people, but also what the image of old age will be like in 20, 30, 50 years. And this problem concerns everyone who does not plan to die young.

Two images of an old man

Although significant changes have taken place in society in recent decades, the image of an elderly person is still defined by two ideas coming from ancient times. Despite the mutual inconsistency of these ideas, they successfully coexist, creating an oxymoron image.

1. "Let's ask the elder!"

Traditionally, the elderly acted as carriers of moral and social values, as well as practical skills. In this sense, older people should play the role of social patriarchs, on which the rest are equal. In the traditional model of society, these are the figures who control that everyone else does not shirk their social roles and behave decently. Therefore, whether you like it or not, if you are an elderly person, the society assigns you the role of an overseer elder. Even if you want to get up and run away or throw a party for everyone.

In pre-literate times, the human brain could not contain all the knowledge. Respect was enjoyed by those who could share information about where animal paths lie, how to make certain tools; later, with the formation of a settled way of life - how to grow crops, take care of domestic animals. The old people were both the book and the internet. Thus, the opinion was formed that an elderly person is the keeper of experience and wisdom.

However, in the industrial world, the importance of the elderly began to decrease, and in the post-industrial world, there is no longer any need for a person to be the carrier of information. The principles of information circulation and storage have changed. And this is one of the reasons why old age requires rethinking.

2. "old and small - twice stupid"

There are many evidence from anthropologists and archaeologists about the fact that in primitive societies old people were buried alive or otherwise got rid of them when the tribe did not need extra mouths. The main significance is practical, those members of society who can keep weapons and tools, participate in hunting and gathering are important. Hence comes the idea of ​​the old man as a burden, or - in a more liberal version - as a "out of his mind", a sort of capricious imbecile.

Today, we do not classify grandmothers in the forest as crocodiles, but we create isolated spaces for them, where they can live out their days without disturbing everyone else. There, old people, as infirm and weak people, are deprived of independence in many respects, refusing to express their personal will in the same way as it is denied to children.

A person can have all sorts of experience, intelligence, and set of successes, but if they are older, they run the risk of discrimination, indulgence, or other people trying to speak for them. To do this, it is not necessary to suffer from the degradation of cognitive functions, it is enough just to look your age.

By the way, according to WHO estimates, the proportion of the general population aged 60 years and older with dementia is from 5 to 8 people for every 100 people.

Umberto Eco, who passed away at 84.

(source: https://tnp-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/image_block/000/032/703/image/base_12e3a0b059.jpg)

Why old age has a bad image

At the same time, erotic or romantic scenes involving older people are practically taboo. It is assumed that people who have gray hair and wrinkles can no longer serve as an object of attraction or aesthetic admiration.

Changes in this area are slowly but taking place. For example, Jessica Lange experienced a career-high, playing glamorous older beauties in Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story and Feud, and in one episode of the futuristic 2017 TV series Philip Dick's Electric Dreams, 73-year-old Geraldine Chaplin appeared as a romantic a dreamer who dreams of seeing the Earth where she has never been. However, scenes in which older people are not shy about looking sexy, romantic, naive and in love are still perceived ambiguously.

To understand why we are so repelled by old age, why society unconsciously shifts it into the zone of invisibility, you need to face your fears. What confuses society in the elderly, how does our own old age scare us?

Deeply stitched in the subcortex fear of extinction and death. In some cases, these instinctive fears are so great that they dictate to young people a rejection of the elderly and a fear of their own old age. Often, it is unconscious anxiety that makes older people scold the youth, impose their ideas on them and complain about “current times”: this is a desperate desire of people to express themselves, to make it clear that they still retain subjectivity. No one can defeat death, but awareness and working through fears make us stronger than the politics of denial and silence.

Fear of loneliness. Old age is often associated with a situation where peer friends pass away, and children and grandchildren rarely come for the weekend. The rhythm of the life of an elderly person is really changing. However, the opportunity to make new social connections does not disappear, and modern technologies make it possible to maintain contact with other people.

Sexual taboos. It can be assumed that the birth of sick children led to the formation of a ban on sexual contact with or between older people. Fortunately, today, healthy children are born to mothers over 50 years old. Not to mention the fact that childbearing is far from the only reason to show attraction and express your feelings to loved ones.

"Cult of Youth". Guilt for one's own age is planted in the media through the cult of smooth skin and advice on painting over gray hair. The problem is largely gender-based - women are much more ashamed of wrinkles. The main thing that you can do with this is to start with yourself and strive to see beauty in different images of physicality. In the end, looking at things from a new angle is much more interesting than being content with the usual optics.

Old age strategies

urban environment and communication

When discussing exactly how to integrate older people into society and promote their socialization and well-being, sociologists and urbanists often offer the concept of creating comfortable spaces. It's not just about adding ramps and elevators and adapting city navigation to the needs of the visually and hearing impaired, but also about creating places where older people feel comfortable psychologically. The advantages of such a strategy are obvious at first glance, but it has a significant disadvantage - the ghettoization of the elderly. It is unlikely that a sharp division will benefit the image of old age, except that it will surround it with new prejudices.

The alternative is the creation of a mixed society in which both the elderly and the young (who, by the way, may also have special needs for a variety of reasons) can coexist. From a humanistic point of view, it is obvious that the differences between people are much deeper and more serious than age differences. Where lifestyle, needs and hobbies play a big role. Assuming that two older people would be more comfortable together is as gross an oversimplification as assuming that two women, redheads, or tall people would be interested in being together.

What is more productive - communication with a person of a different age group who understands your specialty or adores the same poet as you, or with a peer with whom you do not have common interests?

"successful aging"

Today, more and more people talk about an approach called “successful aging”. It draws on advances in gerontology, medicine, and the social sciences (we believe that the cognitive sciences should also be added to this list), and based on this suggests that old age may not be such a gloomy period of life as the previous culture teaches us.

From the point of view of J. Rowe and N. Kahn, diabetes and osteoporosis, which have traditionally been considered senile diseases, are often mistakenly attributed exclusively to older patients.

In their opinion, even experts attribute many physical and psychological problems to old age, not taking into account the individual characteristics of lifestyle, habits and nutrition.

Researchers have formulated several goals to strive for in order to "age well": a low probability of disease or disability, the opportunity to learn new things and remain physically active and participate in social life. If society directs efforts to help older people achieve these goals, and they, in turn, are aware of all these needs as an inalienable right and will strive for them, their quality of life and the image of old age will improve significantly, the authors argue.

Psychologist Robert Hewighurst suggests talking about old age not only in terms of loss, but also in terms of gain. The key point here is the understanding of old age as part of both continuous development and progress, albeit on different grounds. Over the years, a person can become not only more constricted and inert, as often happens, but also more calm, relaxed and internally harmonious. When social pressure is reduced and the continuous pursuit of achievement slows down, you can finally allow yourself to be yourself.

Not only worthy, but also fun

Russian pensioners rarely have the opportunity to open a startup or start a hobby that requires investment. Many opportunities are cut off by health problems and real contraindications - a person with sore knees will not go on a long walking tour or a charity run, and it is difficult for someone who does not see well to sit at a computer.

However, there are also less obvious problems - psychological, dictated by social attitudes. The paradox is that older people themselves often refuse to do interesting things for them, even when they are quite within their strength and means. The motivations are: “This is not accepted, no one of my age does this”, “Well, where should I go, I will be the oldest there”, “I will be embarrassed”. And this is not about going to a rave festival or climbing a mountain, but about quite ordinary things: short excursions, concerts with seated places, exhibitions, lectures and seminars.

It seems that older people are simply shy to have fun and open new horizons. The social meaning of projects such as the one launched by the Ohta Lab is to look at old age in terms of opportunities, not limitations.