During the past few months, I have witnessed several incidents of the elderly, disabled and low-income people being treated very disrespectfully. These groups represent a large part of our community.

To those who discriminate and use cruelty in their words and actions toward the disabled, I’d like to say this. You may be one car accident, one tornado or natural disaster, one disease or one victimizing situation away from becoming disabled yourself. How would you feel being the recipient of hurtful acts and comments?

With our nation’s current recession, the poor among us are becoming a larger group. I routinely hear comments referring to the poor as having some kind of character defect. If you think you are financially secure and have the best-planned lives, please give this a thought. People don’t plan to become impoverished. You may be just one job, one paycheck, one spouse, or one lay off or company closing away from experiencing homelessness, hunger, and poverty yourself.

The elderly among us, too, are many in this community. Older people aren’t immune from having their feelings hurt by reckless words and acts. In fact, they may be more sensitive to this hurtful behavior. I have seen the elderly treated disrespectfully, like they are non-persons on several occasions. Perhaps we need to be reminded we will all be old at some point. How do you want to be treated? In many cultures, the elderly are respected and honored. Perhaps we could learn from these cultures and try to do the same.

A person does not become less human when they become older, or are living in poverty, or are disabled. In fact, their humanity becomes more visible. Sometimes it takes an accident, a disease, a job or a spouse or a family separation, or a natural disaster for us to acknowledge our vulnerability and weakness as individuals and to accept our role, significance and importance in the human family.

As human beings, we share our weakness and frailties, our hopes and dreams and, finally, our need for respect and acceptance.

Yuri Justin

Albert Lea