SENIOR MOMENT: What’s a Wonderful Life?

Impossible as it seems, I heard a Christmas carol playing on the radio last week reminding us that it’s less than four months until the official start of the 2007 holiday season on the day after Thanksgiving. Rather than encouraging me to hurry out and complete my Christmas shopping early this year, it reminded me of Jimmy Stewart portraying George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was originally produced in 1946 yet is replayed every Christmas season.  Stewart wonders what would make his life more perfect and searches for happiness and satisfaction in all the wrong places instead of right in front of his eyes.
Sadly a perfect world will only happen in our dreams and imagination, and each person’s   interpretation of such a Utopia or Heaven on earth will vary greatly. My vision of a perfect world would not have 16,000 children dying each day from hunger and malnutrition—¬that’s one child every five seconds—¬while many of us struggle to find room in our refrigerators for a jug of milk.
There would be not be 1,621,665 cases of child abuse and neglect reported each year as U. S. Census Bureau statistics reveal. The vicious cycle of children who are abused and later become abusers of their own children would be stopped through effective parenting education and preventive services. Parents would learn to effectively manage the stresses associated with divorce, lack of funds, work responsibilities and marital discord without unleashing their anger on their offspring. Many parents would envision their perfect world including children who behave like little angels with no sibling rivalry, no temper tantrums, no back talking, and no whining.
And while we’re dreaming, in a perfect world, love would last forever and there would be no divorce courts and spousal abuse. Everyone would obey the laws based upon the Golden Rule, thus eliminating the need for fines, courts, lawyers, jails or prisons.
In a perfect world there would be no mandatory taxes as everyone would willingly pay their fair share and contribute 10 percent of their time and funds to helping others.  Massive government would no longer be needed to fulfill the many roles maintained by volunteer service.
In a perfect world, peace would replace war thus forever stopping the carnage of the lives of our young men and women on distant battlefields.  Families would no longer be greeted with uniformed personnel sadly informing them of their child’s death in duty.
From a senior citizen perspective, our perfect world would probably include good health with fewer required prescription drugs, less painful joints, the absence of serious diseases, and insurance forms we can read and understand.  We wouldn’t be forced to choose between paying for medicines or eating a meal.
We would have more time to spend with family and friends instead of devoting so much of our lives to medical appointments. Our doctors would spend a few more minutes talking with us as worthy individuals explaining medical terms in language we can understand regardless of our level of education. In the perfect world there would be no illnesses or accidents necessitating so much medical intervention.
In a perfect world, our society would realize the value of senior citizens, even those of greatly advanced age, and treat all of us with dignity. In a perfect world, we would love our neighbors more than ourselves regardless of where the neighbor may live around the world. Whereas my list goes on and on, yours would include…
A retired Extension agent, Betty Munsey lives and farms in Bland County.