Draw the elderly back into society

With people paying greater attention to the aging problem in China, there is need to encourage senior citizens to re-integrate themselves into society by taking part in social activities. This has become important especially because some elderly people have been violating social rules and creating a bad impression on the younger generations, says an article on people.com.cn. Excerpts:

Some senior citizens do flout social rules - they jump queues, spit in public places and even jaywalk. Most of the people ignore their behavior simply because they are senior citizens.

Some senior citizens lack the basic concept of modern social rules because when they were young no such rules existed and after retiring from their jobs, they removed themselves from the outside world which was developing at a fast pace. Therefore, they need to be made aware of the new social rules and persuaded to follow them.

But, at the same time, we should respect elderly people's values and encourage them to use their rich experience and abilities to contribute to social development by taking part in the activities of organizations such as volunteer groups. The government, on its part, should create more platforms to educate senior citizens about new social rules and build more public facilities where they can interact with others and participate in public activities. If the government takes measures to enrich senior citizens' social and spiritual life, it can help develop a truly harmonious society.

(China Daily 02/20/2014 page9)