CEBU, Philippines - Una sa tanan, giingon nga: “Old age is not a time of decrepitude but of enrichment.” Decrepitude, adjective sa noun nga decrepit, nagkahulogan, suma sa Modern American Dictionary: weakened by old age; feeble. Sa ato pa, ang old age, o ang pagka-senior citizen dili panahon sa pagkaluya ug pagkahuyang, kundili, literally, panahon sa pagdugang sa pagka-bahandianon. Bahandi sa kaalam, kalagsik sa salabutan ug panglawas, katarong ug kaligdong, pagkamatinud-anon ug bahandi sa pagpakabana sa uban. Dugang pa, giingon nga: “Old age is the age of authentic maturity.”
Sa World Assembly on Aging , ang delegasyon sa Holy See, misugyot ning mosunod nga mga concerns alang sa World Plan of Action for the Aging:
1.The significant contribution of the Holy See to the World Plan of Action would be to focus attention and interest on the riches of the aging, and on their active and responsible participation in all aspects of life as full members of the community, particularly in the area of ethics, education, and family life.
2.Every programme which truly wishes to serve the well-being of aging persons should above all recognize that old age represents the ultimate and most advance phase of development of human experience in the universe.
3.Gerontological efforts and research are geared towards the desirable goal of reducing the physiological decline associated with biological aging. Thus they aim at improving the quality of life.
4.Education is a life-long process and should be an important aspect of aging. Aging persons themselves have a responsibility to continue to learn; they are called to use their free time in an advantageous way.
5.The richness of any human relationship lies in its duration and continuity in time. Under this aspect, the family constitutes the fundamental institution which permits stable and lasting interpersonal relationships and which therefore fulfills an essential roles in the psychic and effective equilibrium of the person.
6.The Church can contribute much to the establishing of positive guidelines for the aging by holding out to the elderly an abundance of hope over anxiety and motivation over resignation. A balanced approach should be adopted where all the aspects of aging … economic, social, cultural, psychological, moral and religious, are borne in mind. The aged are the ones who have endured. They are the ones who can discern true values in the present and realistic expectations for the future.
7.The Holy See believes that the World Assembly on Aging we have an opportunity to initiate a reinterpretation of this life process which could enable many people to eliminate from their lives the fear and anxieties of its inevitability, and to acquire a new state for life. (BANATNEWS)