GROWING OLD: WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF US?

Mr. Old Man occasionally reads the Perspective section on VNExpress and genuinely enjoys it. True to its name, Perspective is often not a playground for professional journalists, but a place where people who have spent years bumping into life share their experiences, observations, and thoughts.

Today, Mr. Old Man read an article titled “When We Grow Old, Who Will Support Us?” by lawyer Nguyễn Hữu Phước. It was a short piece, but it raised a very big question: as life expectancy increases and children no longer live with their parents as they once did, who will support us in old age?

The author also offered a number of suggestions regarding pension funds and the roles of government and businesses. But what Mr. Old Man liked most was the closing paragraph. It felt like a message to those who are still working hard today:

“At some point in life, what makes people uneasy is perhaps not the fact that they are growing old, but the realization that they may still have many years left to live, yet no longer have enough control to choose the life they truly want.”

After reading it, Mr. Old Man thought to himself: even if we manage to save enough money to support ourselves in retirement, there is probably another worry that weighs even more heavily on the minds of those approaching old age.

When we grow old, who will take care of us?

Retirement homes?

There still aren’t many of them. And those that do exist can be painfully expensive. In the future, there will surely be all kinds: luxury retirement communities that look more like resorts, and budget ones where, frankly, “having a bed is already good enough.”

But for many Vietnamese families, the idea of moving into a retirement home still feels unfamiliar.

Many older people immediately shake their heads at the suggestion:

“Why would I go there when I still have children and grandchildren?”

Their children may also feel guilty, worried that others will say they have “sent their parents away.”

Then there are the very practical concerns. Elderly people who can no longer walk, eat, or take care of themselves become completely dependent on others. And once someone is dependent, all it takes is an uncaring caregiver for life to become very difficult.

To be honest, we still occasionally read news reports about daycare workers mistreating children. So people naturally worry that somewhere, elderly residents might also be treated poorly.

That concern is cultural in nature, but it is also very real.

Perhaps in the years ahead, governments and communities will need to do more to ensure that retirement homes are no longer viewed as places where people are “abandoned,” but rather as places where seniors are treated with dignity, cared for properly, surrounded by friends, comfort, and meaningful lives.

So that older people no longer carry around the nagging question:

“When I grow old, who will take care of me?”

Anyway, that’s enough pondering for one day. Fortunately, Mr. Old Man still swims in the sea every morning and cycles out for coffee every day. Otherwise, he might have started inspecting retirement homes a long time ago.

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Mr. Old Man