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How The Left Sees Seniors?

This weeks headlines: Harry Reid says support the Post Office because (in part) Seniors Love to get Junk Mail. It keeps them in communication with the outside world.

I’ll be honest. I laughed when I read this. Ninety-nine percent of my junk mail goes immediately into the recycling bin…that is after I shred all the unwanted credit applications.

But I’m not a senior. Yet. So I shared this with my ‘slightly’ older friends. One, who lives in a retirement neighborhood, wrote back how insulted she was. She put bulk mail in the same category as phone solicitations -neither fit into her schedule. Of course, she didn’t write immediately because she was at pottery class while her husband was out exercising. I also thought of my parents, who do claim their senior citizenship. I couldn’t talk to them about it as they are in the middle of the Arizona desert prospecting gold and photographing wildlife, out of cell phone reach. And let me just say, Mom’s last email began with OMG… They’re not waiting for the postman, to communicate with the world.

Who sits at home waiting for junk mail? The closest I could think of was my mother-in-law who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease. Its debilitating effects did keep her home and limited activities outside. Yes, I remember she always asked about the mail. Yet, she was looking for letters from the kids and her siblings; not an enlightening article advertising the merits of liposuction.

In general the seniors I know are a busy lot. They take advantage of their free time with hobbies, travel, spending time with family. Heck, many are still working. So Senator Reid’s comment makes me wonder if he speaks from personal experience or if this idea that seniors are feeble and homebound is something more related to a Progressive philosophy where elderly people have limited abilities.

Remember the health care debates? Or the left response to Paul Ryan’s Medicare modification plan (which would not affect those over 55)? Progressives claimed that the GOP wants to Throw Granny Off A Cliff while  President Obama , ironically, clearly indicated his thoughts whether seniors should have the same quality of care as others. Give Granny A Pill

There is no doubt that ‘end of life’ care might be different from ‘retiree care’ but these comments cause one to question the general attitude. Does the government think it knows what’s best for the folks? Or a better question, does this current administration listen to and understand the wants and needs of its citizens? Or is this administration, as Harry Reid appears to be, out of touch? When Team Obama accidentally shares its true agenda including its thoughts on those who might not be seen as productive workers we should take heed.

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Teresa Wendt

A stay at home mom who runs a household, manages the finances, cares for a young adult autistic son, and cooks from scratch. Traveling from Arizona to Alaska summer of 2013. Visit my blog at https://ramblinroseaz.wordpress.com/ and follow along.

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9 Comments

  1. I don’t know of anybody who sits at home waiting for junk mail. I personally think the post office should charge more to send junk mail.

    1. When you hear about the ease of identity theft where people steal junk mail credit card applications and the like you have to wonder about its benefit.

  2. The widow woman who lives across the street from my home are long time friends of me, and my wifes family for over 35 years. When her husband was alive they were always busy with church activities, but didn’t do much of anything else. Her husband worked for Coka-Cola for forty years and retired from them. All her kids are grown and have families of their own. I think two of her daughters lives here in town and are doing things with her all the time.

    Let me tell you, this old woman has more energy than anyone I know who is half her age. She is constantly gone. She has already left the house three times today and was gone for hours. Sometimes she doesn’t come home at night until one or one thirty in the morning from playing cards with her other elderly friends. Then three nights a week she spends the night with a friend of hers whose husband died a couple of years ago and doesn’t like being in her house at night by herself. So my neighbor spends the night with her, comes home around ten or eleven in the morning after doing some stuff with this lady friend, comes home and then in a little while out she goes and is gone for hours in rehersal with a choral group she’s in at her church for little concerts they put on from time to time.

    I’m telling you it wears me out just thinking about all that she does,and SHE’S 79 YEARS OLD!!! I’ll bet Reid isn’t half as busy as any of the people he’s thinking about. Maybe it’s someone he knows who is like that, but that’s the whole deal with all that dieting, exercise, and forget about old age anymore that we all had rammed down our throats back in the late 70’s that has become a lifestyle for the elderly now. I don’t know anyone who is old that sits at home just panting and waiting for the junk mail to show up. Reid is just like all the other liberals in that he thinks he’s got it all figured out, don’t they?

  3. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that she sold her old Mercury big gas gussler about a year ago and bought her a new Toyota, and drives the hell out of it. If she thought she was about to kick the bucket, and the bank thought she was about to kick the bucket they never would have given her a loan for a new car. Of course her generation saved their money and I don’t know her personal business, but knowing her generation she probably paid cash for it, or at least half of it!

  4. Me and my wife aren’t like that. I don’t sit around waiting for the junk mail to show up in the morning, and I’m disabled and can’t do alot of moving around until later on in the afternoon after I take my pain medication. Then I have only a few hours until it wears off and then I’m stuck at the house until the next day. So I have to get done a whole days worth of stuff in four or five hours because when my meds wear off I can’t walk or anything else for that matter after that. My wife comes home for her two jobs and she’s exhausted so she hits the shower and goes and gets in the bed for the rest of the evening. She’s not going anywhere Monday thru Friday, but on the weekends she’s like a wild banshee racing around doing stuff with my daughter and kids and during the Summer she’s gone to the swimming pool all day.

    But I can tell you right now that I’m not waiting around for junkmail to show up when I’m old and I’m sixty-two now soon to be sixty-three. I stay busy here around the house and don’t even look for the mail until my wife comes home and she’s the one who asks me, “Have you seen the mail today?”. I don’t care about the mail because it’s just bills anyway. Nobody writes letters anymore except for me, I still hand write letters just to stay in practice. I’ve got a friend who lives up in Tenn. that I’ll send a letter to every once in awhile and it might be twenty-five pages long. That’s right, you red that right, “twenty-five” pages long. That takes time to do and it might take me two or three days to finish. I ain’t waitin’ for Reid’s junk mail that’s for sure.

    1. Thank you for your comments. Your letter writing skills are admirable. Few people take the time to write letters though many enjoy receiving them. Just because one is disabled, elderly, or otherwise homebound doesn’t mean they aren’t still able to continue an active life. Retirees offer invaluable knowledge and volunteer hours.

  5. Hmmm. Consider the source. Harry Reid? He strikes me as just the kind of person who would do such a wasteful, stupid thing.

    1. It sure sounded like Sen Reid based his comments on another time or a specific person. They did not fit the elderly in my circle.

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