The fear of aging is about the loss of physical strength, mental acuity and the ability to be a productive member of society. And of course death. We all want to remain independent, with the energy to remain active and engaged in life to the very end, rather than deteriorating to the point of incapacity. Hopefully death comes peacefully, in our sleep. That's not the image most of us carry of our parents' or grandparents' generations, however, and thus we worry about becoming doddering old fools, a burden to our children, and incapable of taking care of ourselves.
I don't fear death because of my spiritual beliefs, but I have had fears of physical and mental incapacity. {Huff Post} American culture cannot seem to come to terms with growing older or death. “There’s no way I’d want to be 10 anymore. I have so much more freedom now. I’m making money. I can do whatever I want.
” But what if you asked him what it would be like to be 40? “It would be awful. I’d be stuck in the rut of a job. I’d be stuck with a wife and kids. ” And so on.
But the end of Dr. Tornstam’s analogy is our concept of old age. For some reason our culture fears old age.In general we fear becoming elderly. Our concept of old age is associated with a lack of contentment with life.
Why is this? Why do we despise grey hair and wrinkles? Why do we fear those “golden years”? Why do we scramble to embrace the concept of youth? Why are we so quick to be associated with that insecurity and inexperience and foolishness of youth? How insecure, inexperienced and foolish of us! What do we think we will lose with old age? Is it the excitement of a new experience, or the opportunity of new tests and challenges? Is it the virility of sexual experiences?What is the basis of this thinking and what can be done to see this as part of life’s journey? In failing to control the decline of their bodies, old people contravene the presumption that the human body is infinitely malleable. They are a terrible reminder of human beings' ultimate powerlessness, of the inevitability of death; and for transgressing the idea of human omnipotence they must be punished and shamed. We also project on to the very old our own unbearable feelings of fragility and dependency.In societies where productivity is valued and independence prized, dependence has become stigmatized.
This makes it harder to accept weakness or periods of incapacity – and yet you'd be a lucky soul to go your entire life without experiencing them. Denying those means that we can't work out ways of ensuring that they don't also bring loss of dignity. Accepting them and mourning what has been lost aren't incompatible with an exuberant old age. Indeed, in many ways they make it more likely. {www. guardian,com} Personal meanings of death [ Humans develop meanings and associate them with objects and events in their environment.
These meanings that we associate to certain things are what provoke certain emotions within an individual. People tend to develop personal meanings of death and those meanings could accordingly be negative or positive for the certain individual. If they are positive, then the consequences of those meanings can be comforting to the individual. If negative they can cause emotional turmoil in the individual when faced with the death of someone or when faced with death itself. Depending on the certain meaning one has associated with death, the consequences will vary accordingly whether they are negative or positive meanings
