Waiting for death ?
At any stage of life
Suffering social isolation?
An incurable disease ?
No longer of use to yourself or society and wish to die
Would subscribe to Euthanasia
Depressed ?
Hopelessness at societies continued inhumanity to man ?
That life is becoming ever more cheap and unvalued ?
Social Injustice –equals being treated unequally ?
Feeling that you have done all you want to do ?
Convinced that we have a lack of freedom or liberty- believing that
That our lives are conditioned, controlled and over regulated ?
Life Stages
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Stages of Life--Images of the future |
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Descriptions of life stages can be found in early Greek literature from the time of Hippocrates, and are based on observable changes in individuals during life, primarily based on biology. I’ve replaced the last stage, “Old Age” (which begins at age 55 in psychological literature) with four stages that I believe more accurately reflect life today. As important as the stages themselves are, the change periods between stages are the periods of most obvious change, times which are sometimes difficult. Preparation and understanding help. Below are listed ten life stages, with a very brief description of each stage. Note that after age sixty, the stages are no longer related to chronological age. |
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LIFE STAGE |
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE STAGE |
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Infant |
Birth to two years. Dependent, brain developing, learning motor skills and sensory abilities. |
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Child |
3-9 years. Growing and mastering motor skills and language. Learning to play and socialize. Continued growth, formal school and organized activities. |
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Adolescent |
10-19 years. Growth spurts. Puberty brings hormonal changes and reactions. Strong emotions may rule decisions. Behavioral risks. |
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Young adult |
20-29 years. Completing education and beginning career and family. Potential coping and financial pressures. |
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Adult |
30-39 years. Managing family and career growth. Increasing numbers of couples are starting families in this stage. Continued coping pressures. |
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Middle age |
40-60 years. First signs of aging and effects of lifestyle; menopause, children are leaving the nest, grandchildren arrive, career peak. Aging parents may require care. |
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Independent elder |
Age 60 onward. More signs of aging and lifestyle effects. Eligible for government provided retirement and health care benefits or private pensions. Retirement, discretionary time. Some health problems and medications. May care for others. |
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Vulnerable elder |
Optional stage. Beginning of frailty, cognitive or multiple health problems. Require some assistance. Not able to drive. Possible move to Assisted Living. |
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Dependent elder |
Optional stage. Requires daily care. Unable to perform all personal functions. Possible move to a nursing home. |
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End of Life (Up to six months) |
Diagnosed with terminal condition or end stage of disease. May require hospice care, hospitalization or nursing home care |
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A Wish
I ask not that my bed of death
From bands of greedy heirs be free;
For these besiege the latest breath
Of fortune's favoured sons, not me.I ask not each kind soul to keep
Tearless, when of my death he hears;
Let those who will, if any, weep!
There are worse plagues on earth than tears.I ask but that my death may find
The freedom to my life denied;
Ask but the folly of mankind,
Then, at last, to quit my side.Spare me the whispering, crowded room,
The friends who come, and gape, and go;
The ceremonious air of gloom -
All which makes death a hideous show!Nor bring, to see me cease to live,
Some doctor full of phrase and fame,
To shake his sapient head and give
The ill he cannot cure a name.Nor fetch, to take the accustomed toll
Of the poor sinner bound for death,
His brother doctor of the soul,
To canvass with official breathThe future and its viewless things -
That undiscovered mystery
Which one who feels death's winnowing wings
Must need read clearer, sure, than he!Bring none of these; but let me be,
While all around in silence lies,
Moved to the window near, and see
Once more before my dying eyesBathed in the sacred dew of morn
The wide aerial landscape spread -
The world which was ere I was born,
The world which lasts when I am dead.Which never was the friend of one,
Nor promised love it could not give,
But lit for all its generous sun,
And lived itself, and made us live.There let me gaze, till I become
In soul with what I gaze on wed!
To feel the universe my home;
To have before my mind -insteadOf the sick-room, the mortal strife,
The turmoil for a little breath -
The pure eternal course of life,
Not human combatings with death.Thus feeling, gazing, let me grow
Composed, refreshed, ennobled, clear;
Then willing let my spirit go
To work or wait elsewhere or here!
Matthew Arnold
