An Ocean View

Driving to lunch this afternoon with friends, we took the scenic route along Dallas Road and Beach Road. The wind had cleared heavy clouds that rained all night. The ocean rolled and frothed showing the power of that immense body of water. Waves lashed the shore around Clover Point and the cliffs around Dallas Road. It was a demonstration of great power and beauty. Also showing the potential for devastation.

This morning I listened to yesterday’s episode on CBC's The Sunday Edition about the dehumanizing effect of the phrase ‘grey tsunami’ on old people. The interview was with Andrea Charise, a professor at the University of Toronto who teaches a class called “Aging and the Arts”. Andrea Charise has a PhD in English literature and has worked as a medical researcher in the fields of geriatrics and clinical epidemiology. The phrase shouts ‘Be afraid’. Society will be drowned with the great burden that is coming whether we want it or not. This phrase ‘grey tsunami’ was not intended to have this effect but to just say that huge numbers of elderly will require care. But the effect on an individual level is to enhance the age old worry of being a burden on ones family, on the community and the health care system. This phrase fails to address the beauty and wisdom of this great body of humanity. Not all of us become wise with our years and our beauty often is only in the eye of the beholder. 

So, when we are preparing for a massive potential disaster, we must also focus on ourselves and the individuals around us for strengths, wisdom and yes, need. After all, many of us are still working within the foundations of our society to support ourselves and our families. Many of us are still using the lessons of our years to create vast pools of calm and laughter. I don’t know about the rest of us, but I will challenge this dehumanization. 

“Where there is not community, trust, respect, ethical behaviour 

are difficult for the young to learn and for the old to maintain.”

~ Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant As Leader