Today, we mark the second annual International Day of Older Persons under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic that has severely impacted elderly people around the world. Israel did a great deal to keep its older people from contracting the virus. Still, in the first few months of the pandemic, a high price was paid. Frightened elderly people were "trapped" in their homes or assisted-living centers and unable to meet with family members. We continue to see the psychological and health-related consequences of this to this day. Nevertheless, the deterioration in the state's treatment of the elderly began before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19.
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It all starts with the ancient Jewish principle of respecting and exalting the elderly, something that goes beyond offering your seat to the elderly man on the bus. A moral state and society, healthy in mind and spirit, must be grateful to those older people who in their youth worked for the establishment of the foundation upon which Israel stands today. The seeds they sowed in the early years of the state's existence are bearing fruit, and we should repay the founders still among us so that the next generation knows how to repay us when we get to that age.
A healthy society does not conduct itself like an industrial factory that pays workers' wages and sends them packing when they are no longer productive. The state should allocate resources and pay attention to the elderly, the sick, and the lonely. They are members of society, and when they are vulnerable, all of society is defective.
Society must invest in employment for older people and the creation of appropriate forms of communication on the authorities' part, with the understanding many older people are not tech-savvy.
This lack of appreciation also reflects on young people, who don't treat older people properly and have no appreciation for the previous generation. Ultimately, they will not be grateful to anyone. When there is no respect for the elderly, our sense of solidarity is damaged because our values have been damaged somewhere down the line.
Every older person was productive and useful to society at one time. They paid and continue to pay taxes, they helped build the state as either citizens or soldiers and contributed to Israel's economy with their purchasing power, which has only grown since they entered retirement. Those who commit to doing right by the elderly only if they have something to gain from doing so are destined to live lives of misery and shame.
Remember, today's elderly are yesterday's youth, and the youth of today are the elderly of tomorrow.
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