Naslov
THE FUTURE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ELDERLY: THEIR ROLE IN THE MODERN FAMILY

Autori
Štambuk, Ana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
THE BREAKTHROUGH OF THE SOCIAL: Practical Utopias, Wisdom and Radical Transformations – Social Work: Lessons Learned and Coming Challenges.

Mjesto i datum
Dubrovnik, Hrvatska, 02.09.2019. - 06.09.2019

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
THE ELDERLY ; ROLE ; THE MODERN FAMILY

Sažetak
Ageing is a fundamental human experience that begins with the day of our birth, reaching its peak at old age. Whether it will be successful depends on each individual as well as on his/her social environment, above all his/her family, as well as the social community in a broad or narrow sense. This is why the principal role of the elderly is successful ageing. We shall here regard it as an art or skill, skill meaning knowledge and understanding but also practice (process), to be adopted in order to achieve success. The art of ageing is the manner in which the following skills should to be practised: accepting various constraints and reconciling oneself with what is past ; leaving behind (liberation or detachment from) everything we used to have and experience, along with the ability and desire to create for oneself a new role in a new context (the principal question an old person has to answer is: Who am I?) ; the overcoming of self and the expansion of our awareness towards things we can still achieve. By accepting ageing at the personal, familiar and social levels as a period of life which brings certain changes in mental and physical health and in social functioning, but which also expands the horizons of spiritual maturity, we send a message that we need to regard ageing as an integral part of human life, both natural and necessary. In so doing, the inevitable changes of old age should not be the basis for the development of stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination but rather a challenge to find and witness meaningful living. It is a paradox of life that we often worry about what we do or can do, but we are most often remembered for what we are. It is in a joint search for the role of the elderly in today's world, encompassing our own perspective and that of our community, that the foundation of successful, active and healthy ageing lies, regardless of the state of health of each individual and the circumstances in which s/he lives, even being close to death! So conceived, ageing is not an end in itself but a process which, through the openness of communication and coexistence with others, allows the design of a new reality that from generation to generation sends a message of the indestructibility and sanctity of human life.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Socijalne djelatnosti

POVEZANOST RADA