THE HERALD OUTLOOK December IS Seniors- Long distance view offers hope By FLORENCE WILKINSON Are you badgered at this time of year by everyone who wants you to feel good by donating to some charity or other Have you been submerged by material try to interest you in ecology recycling save the forests or some other worthy cause and then have it brought to your at that there are already people on our own streets who need help to survive some change or even maybe perpetual poverty Well if we were not so affluent a community we seniors could escape under the heading of fix ed income It is true that many seniors do not have to survive on a fixed income which is below the present poverty line as set by the government but it is also true according to research that these same seniors are the ones who donate most freely to those in need not because they want to feel good as some of the ads say but because they have a sense values which makes peo ple important Many of the older seniors will well remember the recycling days of their youth when a man would come around with a horse and cart crying any rags any bottles any bones Just think what might have happened if after the Second World War the same type of recycling was kept up I If that had happened I would not now find m my mailbox a handful of material urging me to know about the condition of the poor earth There would not be such statistics to read as Last year Americans not including Cana I suspect threw out enough aluminum to rebuild the coun try entire airfleet four times enough wood and paper to heat five million homes for the- next 200 years enough office paper to erect a foot high wall from New York to Los Angeles enough motor oil to equal Exx on Valdez spills enough garbage to fill a convoy of trucks bumper to bumper are they thinking of the halfway to the moon Remember the good old day when forty nine ninety five means forty nine dollars and mnety five not four thou sand nine hundred and ninety five dollars What a generation gap appears when different members of an extended family think of money values I remember the day that I paid four thousand dollars for a new car and thought it was terrible Seniors medication Most people have heard their physicians talk about taking drugs with certain foods Some drugs should be taken on an emp ty stomach while others should be taken with food to increase ab sorption Certain drugs should not be consumed with dairy pro ducts while others should not be taken with fruit juices or anything with an acid PH And some antidepressants should never be combined with foods containing tyramine such as avocados bananas cheese chocolate liver yogurt an in teraction that could prove dangerous Seniors account for imately one quarter of all prescription drugs dispensed in Canada Since many elderly peo ple are taking multiple medica tions and often experience adverse drug reactions ADRs they need to be especially con cerned about medicating themselves in a manner that is safe and effective There is evidence that aging is accompanied by changes in the way the human body absorbs distributes metabolizes and eliminates drugs Some studies have shown that drug concentra tions in the blood of elderly per sons are actually higher than those found in young people pro bably because the elderly metabolize and eliminate drugs more slowly than the young On the other hand seniors may not absorb drugs as efficiently as young people As people age their gastrointestinal systems become less efficient explains Avedis K On the other hand seniors may not absorb drugs as efficiently as young people As people age their gastrointestinal systems become less efficient explains Dr Avedis Khachadunan head of the department of en docrinology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey The stomach has many capabilities that diminish with time With less acid secretion there is slower emptying and the result may be both and drug malabsorp tion that was as much as my parents had paid for the farm not in eluding the interest of course If we seniors remember some of these changes and try to help keep in perspective real value in stead of inflated value if we recall some of the love ior the land and their good stewardship of it if we ourselves try to care as much about waste packaging paper metal gas oil etc as we were required to do during the Second World War we might lead the procession in con servation and recycling we KNOW that humans are able to survive even survive with hap piness in life on less waste and less attention to personalized packaging that is required by to day throw away society However changing economic values challenging power hungry corporations badgering governments to enforce reguia about packaging being on top of world ecological needs are born out of a different set of values and can only be sustained if and when people begin to care more for people and for the universe in which people must co exist with the rest of the universe The power hungry selfcentred world which has developed to br ing us our throw away society claims authority from Christian Scriptures which give respon sibihty for dominion over the rest of creation Understanding which realizes that this is a selfish secularized version not a scriptural version has to be rediscovered if any per formance is to result from our present quest Other religions will have their influence on such understanding Evaluating Canadian Native relationship to the earth has given me a greater appreciation for my own Christian roots as taught by my parents Whatever your religious or philosophical roots are I am sure that you the seniors of today will be able to bring hope into the quest for saving our universe which is being much publicized and for in today Canada and today world Having lived through days of old time recycl ing of depression and of war gives us a longdistance view which makes hope possible SMzoktk4ajfucra Main Street South Downtown Georgetown 8731470 Mary 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