A few days ago, I listened to a
lecture (Tedtalks.com) on interesting research findings about the elders in the
US, which was delivered by Professor Laura Carstensen, the
psychologist-Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Her summary of the various research on elders
in the US is, “as people grow older they become happier, more content, and have
more positive outlook on the world.”
The associated textual online exchanges
by those who have listened to the presentation was interesting and
intense. There were those who agreed
with the observations of Dr. Carstensen, and there were those who disagreed
quite vehemently. Among those who
disagreed with her observations said that the findings were just not true or
that these were based on research that included only those who appeared to be
or felt happy. Therefore, to begin with
the data that were interpreted by the psychologist were already eschewed in
favor of elders who were happier. Some
did question the research design. Among
those who defended Dr. Carstensen’s presentation said that she was just
summarizing the results of research.
Well, Dr. Carstensen’s lecture was
based both on her own research as well as the results of many other research
done in the United States, hence these were US data. I’m not in a position to question those data
because I believe that the social scientists who did the various studies were
careful in their research designs and interpretation of results. That’s just how the US data look like. The question is, would the US data be similar
to data from other countries such as the Philippines?
To be sure, I’m not aware if there are
similar studies in the Philippines. What
we know about the level of happiness among Filipino elders is probably based on
isolated cases and perhaps ascribed interpretations. What I mean by ascribed interpretation is
based on the belief that our elders are happy when they remain part of the
Filipino extended family because of the fact that they live with their
grandchildren as well. This is part of our
culture, we are told.
According to Dr. Carstensen, in the
US, there will be more older people (those whose age will be more than 60)
after 2015 than there would be under 15.
That means the US population profile is getting older. In the Philippines, on the other hand, it’s
probably the other way around. It’s very
clear that the Philippine population is becoming younger and even if there is
an increasing number of seniors (the seniors comprised 6% of the population in
2000 and this has been estimated to have increased to about 7% today) the
Philippine population growth of about 2% simply means that the Philippine
population is not only increasing rapidly but it is increasingly becoming
younger. To the question, are Filipino elders
happier than the younger generation? Our
opinions would differ greatly on this. We
don’t know exactly because there has not been any research on the issue that
may be similar to those that have been undertaken in the US. It’s probably very difficult to believe that Filipinos
become happier as they grow older when what we see daily are faces of poverty
and lack of hope. I hope I’m proven
wrong on this one.
***
Burried in the inside pages of one of
the broadsheets about a week ago was a news item titled “Long-Term Programs for
Senior Citizens Pushed.” This news item
refers to a bill proposed in Congress that intends to “establish an
institutionalized long-term care program for the nation’s senior citizens to
enable them to have dignified, healthy and secured lives,” according to the
authors of the bill, the mother-and-son team of Gloria Arroyo and Dato Arroyo.
To be candid about it, I can say that, indeed, this measure which has been
filed in Congress does have very good intentions but it’s a little condescending. It talks about the need to care for the
elderly, which is true. Indeed, every
body who gets old need some sort of assistance and care, but must we treat our
citizens as completely dependent on society all the time? Why can’t members of Congress think of more
positive bills? For example, it is
common knowledge that senior citizens, particularly those who are retired
public servants and professionals, do not like to be burdens to society and
would much like to remain productive citizens in spite of their retirement and
advancing age. Our legislators should be
coming up with measures taking advantage of the knowledge, skills, and wisdom
of our elders.
Most of my acquaintances who have
retired still feel strong and intellectually active that they want to do
something for their respective communities.
Indeed, from them all of our young community leaders could learn a thing
or two about being productive leaders and members of the community. The government should harness the knowledge,
skills, and wisdom of our seniors for the greater good of the community of
which they are part through mutual educational services, for example. I know of a lot of retired professors from
UPLB, for instance, wanting to become involved in training of the younger
members of their communities to become productive members of the community,
instead of simply growing up to become even the banes of society. Many would even want to do volunteer
work. Unfortunately, our leaders seem to
be more predisposed to pursue programs design to simply provide benefits to ageing people because they think
that is what our grey market needs. I’d
say, that’s a wrong reading of the barometer.
Most of the elders I know prefer to be doing work rather than being passive
recipients of assistance (read: dole outs) from government. They have learned to earn their keep and would want to continue doing so for as long as they are able to.
My unsolicited advice: let’s temper our
intentions and efforts at dealing with the issues of senior citizenship in two
ways. First, let’s institutionalize care
programs as, indeed, intended by the proposal of the Arroyos in Congress
because there are many who need it, but let’s at the same time harness the skills,
knowledge, and wisdom of those able to for the purpose of enhancing human
productivity in the community, even up to the national level, because our seniors have the intellectual and experiential capacity to provide such expertise. Second, let’s treat our seniors in a manner
they deserve. They have spent all their
productive years in the service of their communities and country. In fact, we are enjoying being Filipinos
precisely because today's Filipino seniors did their jobs well during their prime. Let’s honor them appropriately by providing them opportunities to continue serving society according to their skills, knowledge, experience, and wisdom.
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