alienation v. dignity

I owe this contrast to one of our former psychological writers of note, but I cannot find it on Google, so I must have made it up. The idea of alienation vs. dignity relates to the process of aging, and the stages that we go through in our development as we mature. This stage is ideally saved for our later years, when we have some internal choices to make.

Alienation. I think this means that things such as the following spew from our mouths of their own volition:

1. kids these days...
2. ...we knew how to act back then
3. how strange
4. growing old isn't for wimps
5. where did I put that? did someone take/move it?

Dignity. This seems to take a little more work, or at least conscious attention. But I suppose that over time it would make many things easier, especially letting go of the body when the time comes:

1. I remember those struggles
2. the rules seem to be different now, I wonder what they are?
3. how wondrous; or, interesting, but not for me
   
4. growing old gives me permission to let things go
   
5. I can't find it, so I'll figure out something else

I had a recent opportunity to observe closely some elderly people struggling with the ideas of letting go; accepting others more and doing with less; gracefully moving into the position of active observers and thinkers. The key word, to me, became grace. If we let go by having our fingers pried open, is that letting go? How do we learn to grow into our dignity? How do we cause ourselves less pain since aging can bring enough pain of its own?

Opinions, in my opinion, are the greatest affliction we nurture within ourselves. Next, and related, is a need to understand before extending love. If we haven't the foggiest, and don't feel a need to assess others by our standards, then while it may seem like Alzheimer's to some, it looks a lot like bliss to me.