Aging Role Models

 

A university professor in the humanities department gives the readers of the Catholic Times some ideas on growing old. 

Many are reluctant to imagine old age because it feels dark, associated with disease, disability, and care for the elderly. In the Japanese film ‘Plan 75’ (2024), which is set in an aging society where generational conflicts and hate crimes against the elderly have increased, the government receives applications for euthanasia from people aged 75 or older. They give seniors time to deal with their deaths and even provide compensation and counseling to help them enjoy their final days. 

Poor elderly people choose death because their health deteriorates, have few work opportunities, and life is difficult. The government, which recommended euthanasia citing the quality of life, abandons many of the elderly to save costs. Although it is based on imagination, it recreates a scary situation that may occur in an aging society.

Even in the real old age society, death, and old age are separated and marginalized from life. In Korean society, the elderly benefit from the system, but families, especially children, are not free from the primary responsibilities. Many elderly people are healthy for a long time, and others suffer from chronic illnesses or dementia. In societies where autonomy and independence are emphasized, active aging is more prevalent, but the lives of the elderly who erase the traces of aging don't go beyond the extension of youth.

Men offer the younger generation a more varied role model for the elderly, while women show a role model that is confined to the warm, fresh emotional aspects of their grandmothers, the model of maternity. Since these role models are less than men, it is more difficult for women to find their old-age role models.

Nevertheless, the role models of older women in older society can be found in a variety of ways. Some older women actors have been reproduced as bad mother-in-law or as good-natured mothers, but who are active in old age and have different appearances as grandmothers, as well as in public roles. 

Writing about women or looking at the lives of older women can also help to create role models for older women. The documentary "Writing on the ground" (2024) follows the life of South Korea's first female landscape artist, even at the age of 80 and over. She believes himself to be a mediator of nature and has dedicated himself to creating healing and places of reflection in the deserted urban environment and the ecological environment she wants to pass on to her descendants. In the documentary "The Legend of the Waterflower" (2023), an elderly sailor who teaches a young sailor his own material know-how appears.

Old age is a stage in which one reflects on one's life in a slow steady way, while also accepting illness and disability and preparing for elderly care, medical decisions, and death. As Catholics, it is time to think about role models for older people. If you plan your old age through various role models, old age will be an unknown path but also a fun challenge.