Seeing the Cycle of Life in My Baby Daughter’s Eyes
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Caregiving for those at the end of life, as those who live it will attest, is equally arduous yet is barely recognized at a similar scale.
While there is no chance Eva would ever see her pediatrician without her parents, elderly patients, some with levels of dependency equal to that of a 3-month-old, present to the hospital or clinic all by themselves, all the time
Part of the problem is also how differently we view infancy and old age.
There is a significant disparity of empathy toward children versus the elderly. Children’s shortcomings turn into viral YouTube videos, while those of the elderly are often derided and ridiculed by the very people charged with taking care of them.
Investing in children makes intuitive sense, but a similar case has not been built for taking care of the elderly.
As with raising a baby, the answer might come from the heart. What is really needed is for us to love the old as we do the new and celebrate the end as we do the beginning.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/a-life-lesson-in-my-baby-daughters-eyes/?_r=0
