INSIGHTS•2 MIN READ
Bullied Bus Monitor..Assault on the elderly
Amy Farr
Published on June 23, 2012
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
Our children are dead inside.
To berate an adult, anyone, so viciously. Cold, callous, without concern. Calling her a troll, fat, dumb, ugly. Speaking of sexual things I cannot mention. That they would urinate and defecate on her doorstep. Telling her she should be dead, or if they were her child they would kill themselves (when in fact her son had took his own life 10 years ago). Poking her, prodding her. A defenseless old woman, who our youth should respect!
This is, as I have seen and witnessed in my chosen career, is not so shocking. I have worked with fellow nurses, aides, facility workers, administrators, you name it...every title in the system caring for the elderly. The growing trend toward their care is not what you would think, as compassionate and loving. It is exactly what you see on that video of Karen Kline in the bus. Oh, it is covert, not so blatant. And it is a few, not the majority. The culture is like that bus. The majority want to help, say something, stop what's happening. But don't. Then more join in the bullying, because it is accepted. Pretty soon it becomes the norm. Swept under the rug, because the victim deserves it, they are just a "crazy old coot" or "old hag". They get labeled the problem. But the problem is basic.
Lack of compassion for our fellow human being. This starts at home.
Our elderly are easy victims. The weapon we can use to fight these perpetrators is our own demonstration of love, care and empathy for each other. Altruism is becoming extinct.
I know Karen Kline was working in this job as a fully functioning adult, not an elder in someone's care.
However, the parallels I see in what happened to her and what is happening to our aged and infirm are startling. And these children are our future?
To berate an adult, anyone, so viciously. Cold, callous, without concern. Calling her a troll, fat, dumb, ugly. Speaking of sexual things I cannot mention. That they would urinate and defecate on her doorstep. Telling her she should be dead, or if they were her child they would kill themselves (when in fact her son had took his own life 10 years ago). Poking her, prodding her. A defenseless old woman, who our youth should respect!
This is, as I have seen and witnessed in my chosen career, is not so shocking. I have worked with fellow nurses, aides, facility workers, administrators, you name it...every title in the system caring for the elderly. The growing trend toward their care is not what you would think, as compassionate and loving. It is exactly what you see on that video of Karen Kline in the bus. Oh, it is covert, not so blatant. And it is a few, not the majority. The culture is like that bus. The majority want to help, say something, stop what's happening. But don't. Then more join in the bullying, because it is accepted. Pretty soon it becomes the norm. Swept under the rug, because the victim deserves it, they are just a "crazy old coot" or "old hag". They get labeled the problem. But the problem is basic.
Lack of compassion for our fellow human being. This starts at home.
Our elderly are easy victims. The weapon we can use to fight these perpetrators is our own demonstration of love, care and empathy for each other. Altruism is becoming extinct.
I know Karen Kline was working in this job as a fully functioning adult, not an elder in someone's care.
However, the parallels I see in what happened to her and what is happening to our aged and infirm are startling. And these children are our future?
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