Hi Ken,
I'll have to give more thought to what you say. Right now it seems that you
live in a different country than I do.
My parents would have had a financial disaster if private insurance didn't
cover most of the cost for health care in the last year of my father's life.
Some of the cost was paid by medicare but not enough to prevent a disaster.
So yes government programs were very involved but neither the complete
solution nor the cause of any problem.
My father was able to live in his own home until he died, in by far the
largest part because of my mother's will power. I left my home for about six
weeks and lived with him while my mother was in a nursing home recovering
from a broken hip. I also converted their home to be sufficiently wheelchair
friendly, that he could live there.
Fortunately after six weeks I still had a home to come home to and with
someone to come home to.
Jeff Keller
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Norton [mailto:ken@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Subject: Re: [OM] OT age segregation - was RE: Good imagery
I hate to say it, but the American Culture has less respect for the
elderly. But on the flip side, I'd say that it is our own doing. What
has resulted is a nanny-state where thanks to all sorts of programs,
such as Social Security, Medicaid/care, heating assistance, etc.,
etc., there is no need for us younger generations to directly care for
our elderly. There are places we send them and government paid ways
for them to be cared for. Doesn't cost me a dime other than the taxes.
Granted, these programs were all necessary to address the extreme
poverty issues among portions of the population--especially when a
younger generation wasn't available to care for them, but those very
programs created to assist in monetary means destroyed the very fabric
of the family assistance.
But, that's not the entire story, though. American Culture is also
based on migratory traits. Most of our ancestors migrated here from
other countries, and every generation migrates to another part of the
country. I'm of a family of eight kids and not a single one of us
lives within 400 miles of where we grew up. Does that make us bad
people? Or are we just following the American tradition? I do call my
dad every few weeks.
AG
--
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|