1. In March of 2010, I had the opportunity to go to Bann Bang Klear to volunteer and keep
the residents company. This was one of my best experiences for many reasons because it allowed
me to see so much more of what life was like than I have had the chance to previously. For
example, when we watch movies and other forms of media, old age is often shown as being
graceful. Every young woman can remember watching Disney movies as a little girl and seeing
the fairy godmother in Shrek or the elegant old village women in Beauty and The Beast, but
these are both inaccurate pictures.
When I was first walked into KhunWanee’s room, she just stared at me. I introduced
myself to her, but she just stared at me for almost 20 minutes before finally speaking. When she
finally spoke, it was like someone had opened floodgates. She told me about her life, growing
up planting rice, losing her husband to fever, her children, and her unrealized dreams; she told
me everything. This experience was very important to me, because it gave me a more accurate
view of what it is like to be old than I had ever had previously. Using Language, Perception,
Reason, and Emotion, I was able to see more of what it was like to be old.
For example, she told me about her medical problems. She told me about her cancer and
arthritis. I knew about arthritis on an intellectual level, but I had never truly had the opportunity
to sit and talk to a severe sufferer and talk to them. She told me about the aches in her joints, the
way it was sometimes hard to move her hands, and how much simply things like going to the
bathroom were very hard for her.
My previous experience with what it was like to be old was through perception, but
perception of someone elses idealized image of old age. This was very different from the truth.
In Shrek, the fairy godmother is lively, while KhunWanee lay in her bed waiting to die. My
Perception told me there was a difference, using Language it was explained to me by
KhunWanee, and using Emotion I was able to feel her needs. However, it was Reason which
brought it all together to allow me to understand the true tragedy of KhunWanee’s situation.
KhunWanee had been abandoned by her family and left behind in an Elder Care Home to
die. After giving her life for others and working to try to find a way to provide for her family, she
had been left alone. While I could see this, it was emotion which truly showed me the truth and
let me share her pain. KhunWanee is a member of a generation that is being forgotten and left
behind, and as a member of the Elder Care Club, it is my job to help her and make her feel better.