It is not easy to accumulate years, experiences and wrinkles. Is it natural to assimilate the inescapable passage of time? Do the years weigh so much that they do not allow us to be a fully happy older persons?
Every October 1st, the International Day of Older Persons is celebrated to reflect on the sustainability and inclusion of this age group in their different development environments.
How are the world’s governments preparing for 2050, when there will be 2 billion sexagenarians, or older people, more than 20% of the global population?
It is clear that we are getting older; there are fewer and fewer young people supporting a graying world with their labor production. In the midst of this scenario: How can we understand and face demographic issues that are becoming development difficulties in the 21st century?
How to promote public policies for a sustainable and coherent progress with population dynamics?
Moreover, Cuba does not escape from this panorama; indeed, it suffers from it like few other countries, being considered one of the most aged nations in Latin America. We should look beyond boasting about the life expectancy of approximately 77 years.
Our thinking is not only to guarantee conditions for the particular needs of the elderly, but also to create space for the social contribution of the elderly, which, even at lower levels, should not be discarded.
Homes for the elderly and grandparents’ circles are some of the initiatives. Philosophy, as a political will, thinks and must continue to think about how much we contribute to the elderly and how much they contribute from their current objective states.
A retirement, a sexagenarian age, does not cancel the labor and social efforts that these active subjects can still assume.
Learning to be old is a task for everyone, the gift of aging does not begin when one turns 60, but from the very beginning of life.
Almost all of us continue the game of hiding the years, we bet on physical patches, we flirt with fashions, we hide gray hair and discreet haircuts.
Nothing is definitive, however. Nothing contains the years. Because aging as a person cannot be thought of as an inevitable process, as an attack on our youth. Growing old should be a gift to be enjoyed as fully as possible.
