Why rush to help older people?
Do you notice that people seem to think a violent crime against older people is especially egregious? Do you notice that people seem to want to assist older people with everyday activities more than they would want to assist a younger person?
Well, their frailty means they have more trouble with everyday activities, and would have more trouble fending off an attack. In that regard, I can understand people's beliefs.
But think about this: aside from their frailty, there is perhaps no reason to think of older people as being more deserving of assistance. Why?
Well, older people were young once. I would think that, proportionately, there are as many nasty and nice older people as there are nasty and nice younger people.
After all, nasty and nice young people age. I would think a nasty young person would tend to be nasty when they get older, no?
My point is this: I believe that many people seem to think of older people as harmless, gentle people that are deserving of assistance, when in fact there are likely, proportionately, as many nasty older people as there are young people!
Now, if an old lady is crossing the street, the chances are that she's nice and not nasty, simply because there are likely more nice or neutral people in the world than there are nasty people. So go ahead and help her, since she's frail.
But just don't assume her age means that she's somehow more likely to be nice than other people are!
Do you notice that people seem to think a violent crime against older people is especially egregious? Do you notice that people seem to want to assist older people with everyday activities more than they would want to assist a younger person?
Well, their frailty means they have more trouble with everyday activities, and would have more trouble fending off an attack. In that regard, I can understand people's beliefs.
But think about this: aside from their frailty, there is perhaps no reason to think of older people as being more deserving of assistance. Why?
Well, older people were young once. I would think that, proportionately, there are as many nasty and nice older people as there are nasty and nice younger people.
After all, nasty and nice young people age. I would think a nasty young person would tend to be nasty when they get older, no?
My point is this: I believe that many people seem to think of older people as harmless, gentle people that are deserving of assistance, when in fact there are likely, proportionately, as many nasty older people as there are young people!
Now, if an old lady is crossing the street, the chances are that she's nice and not nasty, simply because there are likely more nice or neutral people in the world than there are nasty people. So go ahead and help her, since she's frail.
But just don't assume her age means that she's somehow more likely to be nice than other people are!
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