VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1369149186|CONTENT|Sacks is one of those people who can afford to be ridiculously sentimental and romantic about the old, because his position in society ensures he will never have to wipe the bottom of a doubly-incontinent dementia patient.  Many of the old people he insists we should ‘respect’ could no more visit a synagogue or church than their children could climb the Matterhorn.  They languish at home, or in so-called ‘care’ homes, the luckier ones not knowing who they are or where they are.  The unlucky ones do know, and wish they didn’t.

With longevity increasing, the old in their nineties and beyond are looked after by their children who are themselves in their sixties and seventies.  The burden of care is often intolerable, and it is not uncommon for a daughter or a son in this situation to pre-decease the parent.  Whatever Sacks thinks, old age often brings out the worst in people.  This is not necessarily their fault.  When everything they used to enjoy has gone, owing to blindness, deafness, mental deterioration or physical incapacity what have they got to be nice about?  But it can make looking after them a hellish experience.

Much of the burden of care in this country falls on women who either do it at home for nothing, or in homes for practically nothing.  If Sacks wanted to do something useful beyond mouth platitudes, he could start a campaign to get better conditions, pay and guaranteed respite for these carers who are so in need of them.  Perhaps he could make a start by showing them a little of the respect and appreciation he is so keen to lavish on the old.
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