ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270075
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHOW-SOON CHUANG JU
WHEN I was about 6 or 7 years old, I was encouraged to sleep beside grandmother in her large bed, not just to listen to more stories from grandmother but also to keep her warm during the cold winter at a time when there was no electric blanket available. Sometimes I was awarded a coin for using my small fists to pound on grandmother's shoulders and back, giving her a massage.
Grandmother always lived with us in the same household. In escaping the civil wars of China, she moved with us from place to place, with the four pieces of heavy logs - unhewn timber of her choice - that would be made into her coffin whenever the good Lord would call her to heaven.
We had practiced filial piety, to love our grandparents and parents, which was deemed as if the first commandment in Chinese tradition. No elders were separated from family until death. I did not see any kind of senior citizens' community before I came to the United States.
My husband and I have lived here for almost three decades. We have been working hard to send our children to colleges, and let them stay in the dormitories or boarding homes. Later, they will have their careers and marry, having their own families, living in other cities.
We look like the majority of Americans who consider that being independent is most important. Kids and young adults, therefore, are separated from the elders. Thus, a very special group of people called senior citizens are in our society.
There are actually two types of senior citizens in the United States. The first type includes those who are withdrawn from active service, business and office. They enjoy their retirement, living on their pensions or Social Security benefits. They either live in their private homes without children around, or in the organized communities for retirees in such places as Florida, Arizona and California.
The major airlines offer senior citizens' coupons for discounted airplane tickets; hotels, restaurants, theaters and museums offer special low prices to senior citizens. Large and small associations or clubs of senior citizens sponsor many programs for studying, entertainment and social activities.
This group of seniors probably are the most lucky and happy people in the United States; they are very independent.
The second type includes those who become ill and cannot take care of themselves. They stay in nursing homes, depending on Medicare and Medicaid to pay for their medical expenses, and some of them have no relatives or friends.
Since the medical service and daily expenses are costly, many seniors cannot afford to pay even part of the cost. In the depth of physical inabilities and emotional depression, they feel lonely, despairing and not in control. They really need our concern.
While they were young, they paid Social Security and Medicare taxes to government, who should take care of them when they grow old and ill. In fact, it seems that the government has misused the Social Security and Medicare funds and left the funds in bad shape, and the more than 34 million senior voters thus should cry out to stop the wrongdoing and protect the system.
We, the people, at the same time should encourage the individual family to prepare for facing the bankruptcy of the Social Security and Medicare funds. We hope that family includes young and old people living closely or together, not in the form of extended family, but close enough to share the joys and sorrows that should happen to their grandparents and parents.
Let family members understand that all of us have to face the situation of becoming old and weary sooner or later as a part of natural phenomenon, and fear not.
All of us can help each other in a family; grandparents can assist the young adults by doing baby-sitting, and the youths can help the ill elders.
Money is not the only thing that provides happiness. Sympathy, compassion and courage are the good characters that will make the family happy.
We have to strengthen the Social Security and Medicare systems; we, too, can make our society more humane and let us walk through the journey of life with dignity. Our senior citizens are the pride and assets of our nation.
Chow-Soon Chuang Ju of Lexington is author of "Beyond the Good Earth."
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB