Dear Christine,
Recently I attended a funeral service for someone whose body was found a few days after the person died. This person lived alone.
During the funeral service the reverend said living alone is not good. As I sat and listened, I told myself, “We speak of so much love, yet look how we allowed a person who lived alone to die and only days after were they found; whatever happened to the We Care system”.
[How could anyone see] the person’s door or window not open in the morning and at night, the same thing, yet no one called to find out what was going on?
[Have we become so disconnected] and high-tech?
This reminds me of the old sayings: “Out of my mother’s children I love myself the best”, and “Once I am alive to hell with the rest”.
Every time I hear about a person dying alone in a district in which people live next door to them, it makes me hold my head in shame.
Years ago something happened to an elderly man who lived alone. On arriving home from work about 3:30 p.m. I went out and looked. I thought all was well but soon a police van arrived and I knew something was wrong with that 98-year-old.
I was told three guys entered his home, poked his ribs and cut him in his head. He was able to run to the neighbour for help. He always said he would have lived to 104, and maybe he would have but for that incident.
So what is really missing in this day is good old-fashioned Bajan love.
This land has plenty of churches and large congregations, but when a person who lives among us dies and is found days after, we can ask where is the love?
– V
Dear V,
The point I understand you to be making is that people should be their brother’s keeper.
They should look out for each other, particularly the elderly among them who live alone.
And they should be attentive enough to notice things like a window remaining open for an entire day, or not being closed after nightfall.
All that you are suggesting is definitely needed within communities. Such care would also translate to the protection of each other’s properties through an active Neighbourhood Watch programme.
As for the elderly aspect, Barbadians need to recognize that we have an ageing population and more needs to be done by each citizen to deal with this.
With caring neighbours, a network could be developed that over time more of our seniors would be able to remain in their homes and take care of their needs with the assistance of members of their community. This would be better and more cost-effective than institutionalization.
So, V, from every aspect, what you are suggesting is sound. – Christine
