It is clear from the figures that we are living in an ageing society. Better medicine and health care means that life expectancies are higher than ever before. As a result, manufacturers will increasingly have to cater for older consumers while social services will have to expand dramatically. In the Jewish community there is a particularly high percentage of elderly people who require care and concern which has led "Jewish Care" to become one of the biggest Jewish charities in Britain today. Every major Jewish community in the country has a Welfare Board of some kind thats supports the elderly. If society is to cope with an ageing population then what must change most of all are our attitudes. This is not so easy. To truly change our attitudes, we are going to have to rethink our whole approach to life and how we live it.

Kate

What do you see nurses, what do you see?
Are you thinking, when you are looking at me:
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with far away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try."
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing stocking or shoe,
Who unresisting or not lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding the long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I use at your bidding as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen with wings at her feet,
Dreaming that soon a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty, my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now I have young of my own,
Who need me to build a secure happy home.
A young woman of thirty my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty my young ones now grown, will soon be gone,
But my man stands beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more babies play around my knee,
Again we know children my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me my husband is dead,
I look to the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all busy rearing young of their own,
I think of the years and the love I have known.

I'm an old woman now, but nature is cruel,
'Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body it crumbles, grace and vigour depart,
There is now a stone, where once I had a heart.
But inside this old carcass, a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joy, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again,
I think of the years, all too few - gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last,
So open your eyes nurses, open and see,
Not a crabby old woman, look closer - see ME.

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