Extra Credit for Semester

Luckily for me, my mother happens to work in a senior center, where she does multiple jobs such as conference calls, coordinating activities, being a chaperone on multiple field trips, etc. I usually go to my moms job at least once a week and I have also interned there last year. I know most of the seniors there either personally or through my mother. Now knowing the atmosphere of this particular senior center and having to connect it to the Illness and Dying unit, it comes as a challenge because this senior center is actually the opposite of what you'd expect a senior center to be.

Being in this place with a bunch of retired seniors, you would think from no previous experience that being in there would be nothing more than depressing, but that's not the case at all. In fact, the majority of the seniors in this venter just so happen to be legit happy people. This center provides multiple activities for the seniors to take part in. There's yoga, arts and crafts, movie days, various games, among many other things. SO it's no surprise to me that as I walk through this center, I see nothing but old, smiling faces.

The Illness and Dying unit had us explore what goes through a typical human mind and life when Illness and Death is forced into our lives. How does it change us emotionally, physically, mentally? What can we do to stop these negative things from happening? Do we fear Illness? Death? For me to go into this senior center, especially after going through this unit, I would think that with my new mindset, I would really see past these elders and see their actual sadness deep down inside. But honestly, I saw none whatsoever.

Then I got to thinking, sadness and sorrow doesn't have to be the only way to deal with Ilness, Dying or both for that matter. In fact, duing the unit we read a book that relates to these topics called "Tuesdays with Morrie". Of the many lessons I got out of this book, there's a quote that really grabbed me that I believe ALL people should live by. This quote makes me understand why these seniors are not sad and depressed about Dying, but are actually the complete opposite. The quote is " If you learn how to Die, you learn how to Live". This quote really did get my attention. It made me realize that fearing death takes so much negative energy and time that it can actually steal away quality time you have in your life. It made me relaize why these seniors are happy and are enjoying their lives without even giving too much serious thought to Illness and Dying. What these seniors and what that quote has proved to me even further, is that we all need to just live our lives and take on Illness and Dying full on IF it comes, God forbidding.