To Revere the Old Age
By Iris Hernández Rodríguez
Translated by Ernesto Gutiérrez Pino
In almost all the civilizations, the human being has worried to move
away from him the moment of death’s arrival. Besides age has been
associated with the end of the life. And, on the other hand, during a
lot of time the man has tried to find the mythological Source of the
Eternal Youth, as a form of perpetuating his existence.
In fact, cultures so advanced like the Egyptian established the
tradition of giving sepulcher to their deceaseds with the jewels and
wealth that accompanied them in life. Apparently, this fact is not
related with the will of keeping the goods with oneself, but rather most
of the hypotheses point toward the belief of a life further on and the
desire to prolong the enjoyment of the earthly pleasures.
On the other hand, the cult to the gray-headed ones and the longevity
constituted rituals in other latitudes and moments in the humanity's
history. However, this doesn't happen as practice in the postmodern
occident. As the world population spreads to age, the care, protection
and reveres to the old age languishes in not few geographies.
According to the demographic projections of the United Nations, in about
50 years people of advanced age will triplicate the current quantity in
the world. The process of the population's aging is quick in Cuba,
similar to the situation of the industrialized countries. Nowadays
approximately a million people in this archipelago are included in the
named third age. In about 20 years, there will be an old man for each
four Cubans. This number will place the country as the most aged in
Latin America.
The fundamental causes of this quick multiplication of the number of old
men are located in the decrease of the natality and in the increase of
the expectation of life up to 76 years.
The scientific advances and discoveries not only contribute to the
increase of the life expectation, but they also guarantee that people
get older than 60 years with good health. Some investigations assure in
the world that the appearance of the disabilities and inherent chronic
sufferings to the age delay more and more in appearing. That is to say,
now the goal is not only to last more, but making it in a healthy way.
It is demonstrated that the healthy habits of life keep a close
relationship with the longevity. The Asians, for example, are notorious
in the world because they reach ages above the average. Some recent
informations indicate that the biggest quantity in centennial people is
in Japan, with a superior number at 20 thousand. The oldest couple in
the world lives in that country, he is 114 years old and she is 115. But,
how do they achieve it?
The rich diets in fish and vegetables, life without stress, practice of
physical exercises and the elimination of toxic habits seem to be
infallible formulas not only for a healthy age, but also for a fuller
life at any age. The perception that the old men become in a load for
the family or the society can go away when guaranteeing quality until in
the air that they breathe.
The Cuban system of health offers a differentiated attention to the old
men. There are already more than one hundred doctors specialized in
Geriatrics, specialized services and institutions have been created in
this populational segment and teams of different specialists give
pursuit to the quality of these people's life in the communities. The
creation of the university class-rooms for the old adult has become
another option for their intellectual and emotional development in Cuba.
While the longevity continues being an enigma for the humanity and a too
ambitious yearning, anyone of us can help to demonstrate to the old men,
as a very well-known sentence prays that not always at third time things
end up.
