A Lesson in Compassion

Be compassionate with your elders. It's not easy getting old. How do I know? Today I put popcorn kernels in my shoes to make it harder to walk. I slipped on a pair of plastic gloves and taped three fingers together on my left hand, and another three fingers together on my right hand to simulate arthritis. Then I put on goggles with 80% of the lenses blacked out to simulate the results of macular degeneration. Finally, I donned earphones playing constant chatter and static as background noise. Then I tried to do six tasks: thread a belt through loops on a pair of trousers, match 6 pairs of sox, clear the table of dishes, draw a picture of my family and put on a tie.

It's very hard when your body parts don't work efficiently, you can't see clearly and there is constant noise distracting you! I almost forgot to draw the picture. My take home lesson? I was frustrated by my inability to focus and agitated about feeling less capable than usual. It's hard for me to process information efficiently when I am overwhelmed and/or distracted. And, if I can't process the input, I can't retain it. (Watch out all you multi-taskers--you're only creating undue stress for yourselves.)

As for treating the elderly, from now on, I will encourage them to focus on one thing at a time. Answer one question first before going on to the next. Complete one task before taking on another. Protecting one's self-esteem is important. I think this applies to kids as well as the elderly. In the end, I will simply treat everyone with patience and compassion--myself too. Wow, that's quite an insight!