STOP ABUSE AGAINST ELDER PEOPLE

 The abuse against old and invalid people has now become a global issue and no country in the world is devoid of it. As a result of higher life expectancy by better medicare, the number of senior citizens have multiplied everywhere.

Proportionately the abuse against them have also increased. The old age is a challenging period for all and in addition to its accompanying predicaments when they are subjected to physical, financial and mental torture also the life becomes intolerable for them, In  rare cases sexual abuses are also reported.

 However only a small percentage of abuses come to public knowledge.


WHY ABUSES ?

In all of God's creations human beings are the only kind of species who value relationships and take up the responsibility of looking after the aged parents as a duty while it is not actually in the evolutionary scheme. Nature has no use of the aged and consequently the neglect is a normal bye-product of nature's apathy. Take the case of infants they are dear to nature and consequently everybody loves and take care of them.


The world health organization defines elder abuse thus : " A single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person "

THE CHANGING SOCIETY

The joint family system has now given way to nuclear families. A joint family consisting of people of all age groups had taken care of everyone's interest in the family including  the elders and children. But in a nuclear family consisting of one or two children all of them  live in their world.  

THE ROLE OF THE DESCENDANTS 

 According to ' Daily news and Analysis', the Daughters-in-law are the main culprits in the elder abuse issues. The  Head line read thus: " Daughters-in-law emerge as the major abuser of the elderly" A survey conducted by the 'New age ' found that about 65 % daughters-in-law in the lower strata of income and about 35 % sons in higher strata of income were found elder abusers. In another survey conducted in central Delhi  the finding was that all the daughters-in-law in the city  abuse their elders.

In the case of  abuse by the daughters-in-law, the culprits are actually the sons, for, if they are capable of controlling or guiding  their wives the abuse would not take place. Similarly the daughters-in-law must guide their husband too if the son abuse his parents. In many cases both of them fall in one category and uncontrolled abuse take place.   Any how, the daughters in-law can end or limit the abuse in major cases.

( Who would have thought that such seemingly innocuous and  fun-loving, teenagers would one day become the authors of such a major social problem in the world )

Generally the modern girls are found very possessive. Most of them want their husbands all for themselves and do not allow them to freely mingle with others or take care of parents. In such cases even if the son loves parents he is spinelessly compelled to neglect them because of wife's pestering.

A DAY FOR ELDERS

Although all religions advise the people to respect the elders and get blessings from them it is largely ignored. The Buddhism, which is very strict in its preaching and practice advocates to respect elders, as such  the Buddhist countries like China, Burma, Korea and Japan had less than average elder abuse cases until recently but with the globalization  the values have come down and they are also joining the mainstream.in the abuse of elders

To make the general public aware of senior citizens' problems June 15th. is marked as ' World elder abuse awareness day ' by the international network for prevention of elder abuse in 2006 and it is to motivate the individuals,N.G.Os and Governments across the world to initiate action to prevent such abuses and many organizations are actually working to help the older ones. Even if one could not actively work for this cause, simply giving love and respect to the elders in their home itself is a  great step forward.