“A mother can take care of 5 children yet 5 children can’t take care of one mother.”
~unknown
I came across the film Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) by Leo McCarey. The movie is about an elderly couple Barkley ( Victor Moore ) and Lucy ( Beulah Bondi ) Cooper who are forced to separate when they lose their house to foreclosure; and none of their five children is willing to take both parents in.
Barkley is not able to find work due to his advanced years and with foreclosure eminent the elderly couple summons the adult children to break the news. A temporary solution is for the parents to split up and live with different family members; which prove to be untenable for all parties.
As Barkley continues to search for work so he and his wife can live independently, the scenario predictably detereiorates into a human tragedy:
When Lucy continues to speak optimistically of the day that he will find work, her teenage granddaughter bluntly advises her to “face facts”; that it will never happen because of his age. Lucy’s sad reply is to say that “facing facts” is easy for a carefree 17-year old girl, but that at Lucy’s age, the only fun left is “Pretending that there ain’t any facts to face…so would you mind if I just kind of went on pretending?”
~Wikipedia
Although the film ran over 70 years ago the topic is more relevant than ever as the aging population and the economic down-turn spell CRISIS for many seniors and their families.
Elderly Foreclosure
The global economic depression has hit boomers hard—as over 684,000 homeowners age 50 and over were delinquent, in foreclosure, or lost their home. This is especially troublesome for the older adults who are on fixed income and limited time horizons for recovery. Not to mention the coming tough times for federal assistance programs for seniors; as presure on aging services to poor and frail ramps up.
Three Senior’s Stories of Foreclosure
For a growing number of Americans the “Golden Years” are a fanciful dream that died with a personal loss or economic fates; never to be realized despite years of working and planning. Here are three stories to put a human face on the hardship faced by older adults
Patricia 5 years in her home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZer-kemrM
Cole 28 years in his home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQuM5vSbMdU
Andree 20 years in her home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L8VAauxCr0
These stories are heart-breaking, increasingly common place, and in need of solutions.
Saying Goodby to Aging in Place?
We can discuss aging-in-place remodeling and elegant universal design options, but unless many individuals these have a “place” to age in, it does them little good; as they are evicted from the homes where their dreams once resided…
In a review of Make Way For Tomorrow, Jamie S. Rich finds the film more hopeful be...
