One of the most important issues raised by the coronavirus pandemic was the way in which our society defines the value of life of our elderly fellow citizens and senior citizens in a different way from the rest. When we use the term senior citizen, it refers to people that have surpassed 60 years of age.

In our country, the years of retirement may play a marginal role in the classification of people according to social class. Usually this may refer to those who lived their lives creatively and now what is left for them is the serenity of retirement and a carefree life until the end comes.

The pandemic issue though indicated that people seem to have a different perspective and attitude towards the elderly through difficult times.

For example, thousands of elderly people around the world were used as an excuse by politicians and epidemiologists at the beginning of the pandemic as a way to appease younger citizens.

In short, the idea that the virus will only affect elderly people that have already lived their lives was very prevalent and that the virus only affected law approaches slightly.

This means, that the rest of us should not live in fear or concern regarding the virus because we do not belong to this sensitive population, as they wrongly and discriminatory claimed. Taking this into consideration, it was observed that many European and American countries did not attended to help this ‘vulnerable’ population as they wrongly claimed which could very well attributed to the high number of death found within this population.

Unfortunately, there have been cases where the ethical values and ethical considerations of doctors and caregivers have been tested a lot. For example, health professional considered if they should take an elderly person out of the ventilator so it can be given to someone much younger.

Additionally, prejudice towards the elderly was reinforced by both the media and the applied social exclusion measures, which at first exaggerated the vulnerability of this group and underestimated the risk of the pandemic towards other age groups.

The later waves of the pandemic have clearly shown that the virus does not discriminate between different age groups but it is very transmissive against individuals that did not take the appropriate health measures in time.

Through the passage of time though plus the changes shown by statistical data, the attitude towards the elderly has begun to shift.

Social Solidarity

What has really made a difference though is the help, care and emotions of love that young individuals have shown to elderly friends and family members in order to take care of them and help them.

Additionally, there are several cases of support through food, first aid tools and personal care that many younger relatives of the elderly have shown but also from volunteers.

Society owns a great appreciation towards individuals that offered back to the society and these examples of kindness is what gives value to a person’s life, not their age group.