The population of old people is dramatically raising, but not enough money or time is dedicated to the care of seniors. The senior center that we visited showed me that old people require a lot of care. Many of them had trouble doing things we find trivial such as standing up, walking, typing, etc. We are figuring out how to keep people alive longer, but now we need to focus on keeping the elderly happy, healthy and independent. If projections of rising numbers of old people hold up to be true, we will need to dedicate more resources into the care of seniors. In lower-income countries, the number of old people is estimated to rise dramatically, This will cause problems of neglected needs of these people.

At the Mount Pleasant senior center, we interviewed a few seniors and asked them about what they enjoy, what's challenging for them, and what we could do to help them. Talking to Prisilla, I was interested in her inability to easily stand up. This task to me seems so easy, but to her, it is difficult and scary. This simple interaction showed me that we should focus more on keeping people healthy and happy longer rather than alive longer. We also talked to Bobby Joe and learned a little about him before he fell asleep. He told us about his trouble tying. He is able to write for fifteen-minute sessions before he has to take a break and let his hands stop hurting. Bobby Joe was not able to give us much information because he was too tired. This also showed me how fatiguing it is to simply be old and how much energy he has to use in daily life. 

From the passage I learned that as humans we require attention and a feeling of purpose to stay healthy. However, in todays society, many elderly people are neglected and left in the dust as their family moves at such a fast pace. This makes them feel lonely and unhappy, they are left to spend time alone or with their, often patronizing, caretakers. This unhappiness deteriorates their health and leads to an untimely death. If society embraced aging and accepted that it is something everyone goes through then more physical activities could take place and as a culture we could come together more fully.

At the home I realized how hollow their lives are when they are left alone in these retirement homes. they were so happy to have visitors they don't even know it makes me wonder how often they see outsiders.

This reading gives me the impression that the more positive about yourself aging, the better you health will be. If you are more confident you will have to will to wake up everyday and get out of your bed. Although this is a possibility, many older people do not feel this way. They are always thinking about the negative affects of aging and this makes it hard for them to want to get out everyday. Part of being positive is to think as yourself as useful. Like the reading said the people who felt like they had a purpose and were useful, were the people that lived longer.
Some very important things and activities to think about and act in were mentioned in the reading. They said that physical exercise was very good. Not only physical but also mental. Exercising both parts can be very good for you and improves one's brain. Being social will also help you a lot. This will give you more confidence about yourself and make you more happy. Some things to remember when you are getting older is to be positive about it. Also while you are being positive about it you have to get exercise and be social. If you do all of these things it will lead to a good aging process

My first thought upon reading the essays was that they seemed to describe both a de facto and a de jure marginalization of the older population. De jure: Much of the hardships brought on to the older population are a result of policies that don't properly economically support them. Pensions don't last long enough. . . healthcare doesn't cover enough. . . it's too expensive too live outside of a retirement home. . . etc. De facto:  Retirement homes whisk retirees out of society making it impossible to have an impact. Even someone living within society is a pariah and not respected. The technology boom has left the older population behind, making it so the younger generations do not respect the older generations' knowledge. Technology will continue to develop - probably at a faster rate than now - what will make the new generations respect us when we are old? The older population is a colony to the rest of society. 

It is necessary to innovate to aide the older population to participate in society. As the world population continues to grow, it will be impossible to support that many non-participants. The older population is already under-supported, what happens when there are twice as many of them? We need to find ways to increase people's working spans, and to aide them in contributing to society. We need to create programs that help them adapt to changing technology. We need to integrate them back into society and give them the tools to have power over their lives - or just kill people when they turn 65.

Younger generations are concerned about the new lifespan they wonder if it will cause bankruptcy. We dismiss the older generations saying that kids are the future and they are the past which is a toxic mindset for both parties.

When seniors go into retirement homes they have to give up their hobby's. A resident of Mt.Pleasent told me how he had played piano all his life but had to give it up because it upset the other residents. Many seniors are put into retirement homes too early and from my visit to Mt.Pleasent I've found its not always the best option. When seniors are put into homes they are forgotten by society. They don't get opportunities to keep up with the outside world even if they wanted to. There are padlocks on the doors and most visitors are there to talk about health. When they need something they have to do long applications just to get it. A few people I talked to today told me how they needed medicine but their health care wouldn't provide it. In conclution, we need to focus on the happiness of everyone and not just the younger generations.