Every time I walk on the street, I can see some faces filled with sorrow and sadness. They usually shuffle along the fence or hide themselves under the shadow of the stores next to them. I feel bad. They are the elderly who once contributed much to our society.
Hong Kong is a stressful city and the elderly are considered to be one of the hard-hit groups. A recent survey even found that many of them lead a gloomy life and have suicidal thoughts. In fact, the increasing cases of the elderly’s suicide have alarmed our city.
The main reason for the elderly to commit suicide is their aging problem. As they get older and older, they retire from work and have to rely on their grown-up children financially. Their self-esteem declines and suicidal thoughts starts to breed. It is possible for them to lay the blame on themselves and take their own life in the extreme.
Illness makes the matter worse. Usually, when the elderly get an incurable disease, like cancer, they can do nothing to help with it. Other than pills-taking, the only thing they can do is just sitting or sleeping in bed and at the same time, waiting for the end of their days. During the time when they are suffering from the disease, they may not easily withstand the agony brought by the illness. Thus they lose their hope to live and may choose to kill themselves, to end the pain.
What’s more, the uninteresting daily life may also trigger their suicidal thoughts. After so many years of hard work, some elderly people may feel lonely and extremely bored with their daily life after retirement. They may feel depressed and cannot find anything meaningful to do. With no aims nor directions, they may rather take their own lives.
Nowadays, the old people seem rather unhappy and gloomy as they lack support from others. It is high time they were cared about. For instance, the government could devote more resources to training more social workers, so they could help the elderly skillfully. It could also raise the public awareness towards the issue through publicity.
The families of the elderly could also help solve the problem. Family support to the elderly is probably the most direct and the fastest method to stop the elderly from having suicidal thoughts. It is very important for the elderly. If the elderly lose their hope to life, but their family members can notice it and support them before it is too late, the old ones would surely not take their life.
For schools, some volunteer service programmes could be organized to let students have more chances to help the elderly. They could be taught to treat the elderly well and always support them.
With the concerted support from all parties in our city, the elderly would surely live a better life at their twilight years. I am looking forward to seeing the elderly smiling without any sign of melancholy or sadness and I will surely wave back to them as support!