Our Honors class is mainly focused around the I Have a Dream project (IHAD) in Asheville and studying ways to help children succeed and become motivated in working for their future.  For children, no matter what background they come from, making good grades because of studying and hard work always boosts their confidence and excites them for their future.  However, sometimes these children don’t live in the most productive environment and outside influences can distract them from doing well in school.  Fortunately, programs, like IHAD, take an active role in providing a structured environment for these children and challenging them to do well in school.  Good work like this should put a smile on anybody’s face.

          In searching for inspiration that would help me with my class presentation, I stumbled upon the documentary “Gotta Dance.”   The movie’s description immediately caught my attention: senior citizens doing hip hop dance?!  I began to procrastinate in my quest to find material and started to watch the documentary.  Watching alone, I found myself mortified and embarrassed by the grandmas and the one grandpa who were auditioning for the senior dance team of the New Jersey Nets (NBA).  Their movements were jerky, hesitant, and uncoordinated.  I cringed at the awkwardness.  But they were all smiling and enjoying themselves!  The seniors appeared confident in their dancing ability.  The documentary allows us to meet the seniors and learn a little bit about them and their interests.  The seniors learn their dance routines from the professional Net dancers’ coach and we get to see them successfully perform at three games. Even though they have different backgrounds and worked in different professions, they all still feel young and express their desire to keep moving and dancing. 

            Wow.  Old people thinking they’re young?  Old people having cool hobbies and wanting to find new ones?  I’m not against senior citizens and their quest for fun, but it is something that I’ve never given much thought about.  In our class, we focus on children and making a difference in their lives, but we don’t ever think about our senior citizens and making the aging process easier and more enjoyable.  We tend to not think about older generations and their lives.  They can’t work or move like they could.  What could be going on in their lives of any importance?  I don’t think we’re so heartless to think these things, but we definitely don’t bother ourselves to think about it at all. 

   Our class talked about helping people live dignified lives and I think that not only should we be focused on helping the youth, but also on improving the lives of senior citizens.  We all wrinkle and our joints go bad, but that doesn’t mean we stop living or feeling or desiring.  “Gotta Dance” really proved this.  Watching the senior citizens dance and listening to how they incorporated their experience into their lives was truly beautiful.  One woman, Betsy (whose dance alter ego is Betty), teaches kindergarten and after her dance team experience, she returns to class and uses hip hop music and rhymes to get her students moving and learning.  This is a prime example of how the old can still connect to the young and how senior citizen programs are invaluable.  I am proud to say that UNC-Asheville’s campus is home to the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, which allows senior citizens to continue education and learn new things, even though they no longer work. 

            Not only do many seniors need social and activity programs, they also need comprehensive health care that covers all their needs.  Of course, when most people think of health care for seniors they think of medication copay coverage and access to good doctors.  This is important, but oftentimes people don’t know about the psychiatric care that many seniors need.  My mother, a psychiatrist, currently works on a geriatric ward for one of our state psychiatric hospitals.  I often wondered why anyone would want to work with senile, demented old people because it seems so depressing.  When I asked my mother how she could handle it, she replied that it wasn’t upsetting because aging happens to everyone and the rewards of giving someone a purpose later on in life far outweigh anything that could be sad.  (Currently, some of the recreation staff at the hospital are trying to get Wii consoles and Wii Fit to keep patients active and happy.)

            As we continue working with the kids at IHAD, which will be a very rewarding experience, I will have to keep in mind that they aren’t the only generation that needs programs and groups and that just because you don’t see senior citizens out at the club or holding huge house parties, they still want to have fun and want to socialize.

http://ncccr.unca.edu/

The Nets' senior dance team from "Gotta Dance"

Some youthful seniors, clearly enjoying themselves