Studies show that from birth to four months an infant, because it cannot foster relationships on its own, needs to have communication and touch provided in order to thrive. Let us fast forward the DVD of life for this child, say around eighty-seven years, and visualize what we might see.
As we enter the long, dark, tall hallway of a nursing home, our footsteps echo so loud it seems like the very corridor that leads to the chamber of the great Wizard of Oz himself. At the end of the hallway sits a little, old lady in her wheelchair slouched over with her head drooping so low it looks like it is disconnected from her body and she is holding it in her lap. Her oily, thin, whitish gray hair is pulled back and plastered so close to her head it looks like she is wearing an early sixties bathing cap minus the chin strap.
As we approach, we see the skin on her thin arm looks taut but wrinkled at the same time, much like overly stretched leather. The skin possesses a transparent look revealing so many veins in her arm that you could probably route a map to Florida easily on it. As we softly touch her arm, her head suddenly pops up like the Whack-a -Mole at Chucky Cheese, her eyes appear to bulge at least an inch out of their sockets as she screams at the top of her lungs, "Get the hell away from me you Commie"!
Now, I don't know about you but my first instinct would be to never touch or talk to that woman again. However, we need to remember whether it is an infant or the elderly, if they do not have or have lost the ability to foster relationships, they still need communication and touch to thrive. Why should we do this? First and formost, it gives us the ability to entwine empathy into our nature. If that is not enough of an incentive for you, consider the fact that the choice you make opens the reality of the old saying, "What goes around comes around". Whether or not this saying is a blessing or a curse when you reach the age of eighty-seven is entirely your choice!
As we enter the long, dark, tall hallway of a nursing home, our footsteps echo so loud it seems like the very corridor that leads to the chamber of the great Wizard of Oz himself. At the end of the hallway sits a little, old lady in her wheelchair slouched over with her head drooping so low it looks like it is disconnected from her body and she is holding it in her lap. Her oily, thin, whitish gray hair is pulled back and plastered so close to her head it looks like she is wearing an early sixties bathing cap minus the chin strap.
As we approach, we see the skin on her thin arm looks taut but wrinkled at the same time, much like overly stretched leather. The skin possesses a transparent look revealing so many veins in her arm that you could probably route a map to Florida easily on it. As we softly touch her arm, her head suddenly pops up like the Whack-a -Mole at Chucky Cheese, her eyes appear to bulge at least an inch out of their sockets as she screams at the top of her lungs, "Get the hell away from me you Commie"!
Now, I don't know about you but my first instinct would be to never touch or talk to that woman again. However, we need to remember whether it is an infant or the elderly, if they do not have or have lost the ability to foster relationships, they still need communication and touch to thrive. Why should we do this? First and formost, it gives us the ability to entwine empathy into our nature. If that is not enough of an incentive for you, consider the fact that the choice you make opens the reality of the old saying, "What goes around comes around". Whether or not this saying is a blessing or a curse when you reach the age of eighty-seven is entirely your choice!
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