Disadvantages of Aging

Here is an interesting article from the New York Times on the funding of home care for the aged and the disabled:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/us/21aging.html?_r=1

I know the information is American but here are some thoughts I had on the issue:

1) My husband and I don't get paid or reimbursed for anything we do for the matriarch, that's okay she's family, but it also means the state does not have to pay for ANY care for her beyond minor medical.

2) It is humiliating for an individual to have to beg for help. Sometimes just knowing a helper has been assigned to do a particular chore makes life, in general, a little bit easier.

3) If this is how the old and infirm are treated at the end of their lives, what does it say about our society? It is how the old, infirm and very young are treated that defines our culture--but I could be wrong...

It seems to me not many people actively care for the old and disabled; I am also of the mindset not many care about the young. It doesn't matter. I can only do what I can and listen to others pontificate about what they would do if they were in the same situation. It saddens me to think people think they are somehow removed from their neighbours and obligations of care. I imagine a future of shining clean houses, with adult toys in the driveway, and children, who've been packed away in institutions for many years, failing to visit and people not knowing their next-door neighbours. I think this article from the Times is very sad; not just its content is sad but the uncomfortable acceptance of its truth as if this is somehow the way it MUST be...