The Independent Huddling Elderly

Clifford Simak, one of my all-time favorite science fiction writers, once wrote a short story titled The Huddling Place. It examined the negative consequences for someone who was able to fashion his own private environment to the point that the outside world was so effectively filtered that it was essentially shut out. It has one of those profound endings that keep creeping into my thoughts from time to time, reminding me of other things going on in my life.

I admit to having been a habitual "huddler": one who can't wait for the moment in the day when privacy rules and others are barred from entry into my life. This has usually occurred at the end of my workday and I am finally home, late at night. The others in my family have all usually gone off to bed by then, and I pretty much have the run of the living room/kitchen all to myself. But then again, the hour or two I enjoy snacking and "surfing" my TV are no longer typical for how I now spend my free time. For late at night after work, I am often mentally fatigued and just need some "alone" time to relax and lighten up. Yet at other times I go out into the world and mix with it with no problem and to my enjoyment.

But I do know some people who, like the main character in Simak's The Huddling Place, at some point in their lives decided to create their own little "private: no trespassing" cocoon of privacy. All outsiders, almost always strangers, become potential intruders to them. Unfortunately, with elderly people possessing this bent who live independently, this can also mean cutting off one's connections with people whom they find themselves needing at times to depend on for their needs.

It's a fact of life: as we age, our physical abilities diminish, often to the point where we can't function without outside help. We can't see or hear as well as before, we can't walk like we did when younger, and our injuries are both more severe and serious, as well as slower to heal. Our ability to react is also slowed, making driving that more difficult, if not impossible. Yes, the expression "independent elderly" could be termed an oxymoron since it is the sad, though unvarnished truth that aging goes hand in hand with increasingly greater dependence on others.

Instead what happens is that some elderly cut themselves so completely off from their neighbors that, when they finally become so desperate in their needs, they become prey to con artists and even violent crime.

Let's face it, we all like our privacy, even the more gregarious of us. But we also need to take care to make some effort to connect with others around us. In a city environment, having someone on our block or in our apartment complex who occasionally checks in on us to see how we're doing is "priceless", as that old worn-out commercial puts it. Beyond that, there are social and religious organizations that are eager to invite the elderly into its halls and help them with transportation or other relevant matters (belief in their creed is usually not required). Of course, nearby family can make a huge difference. And even those relatives living at a distance can help profoundly. But the base of social connections has to be local, and to accomplish this one's "huddling place" needs to have "occasional", not "permanent" status.