The internet is a treasure trove of terminal weirdness. The other day I stumbled across a video narrated by the comedienne Anne Meara (of Stiller and Meara) which is all about the sexual activities of senior citizens in assisted living communities. Now, I'll grant you that I'm not so far from being in those kind of facilities myself, but still... it seems a little off the dial to me. Just as it seems unthinkable to one of my kids that I might, um.. well.. yeah. You know. Do that.
Moving along... In the film clip, several elderly residents are interviewed, along with numerous staff, from a Jewish senior living facility (I'm guessing in New York). They are careful to point out that these folks have both desires and rights, even if "we" (in this case the younger staff) think it might be creepy.
Just like beauty, apparently "creepy" is also in the eye of the beholder, and we have to learn to respect the idea that older folks still have needs not unlike those of their youthful counterparts. To help the nursing home staff, training classes are offered on how to respect geriatric passion's need for space. Oy ist mir gevalt!
My favorite line is the opening story Anne Meara tells of the 95 year old woman who was asked "at what age do older folks lose the desire for sex?" She replies: "I couldn't tell you. Guess you'll have to ask somebody older than me, honey."
You go, Granny.
Our youth- and beauty-focused modern culture tends to equate sex with the young and beautiful. The older I get, the more obvious it appears that I have more often than not viewed things through the screen of my own demographic characteristics. Wisdom and maturity probably means that I have learned to see a situation from the perspective of others who are different than me.
Just give me another 20 years or so, and I'll probably understand the whole concept REAL well. :)
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