Being a burden

People may who consider themselves, or are considered by others, as being a burden on society, are dependent in some way on the support of others. They are also often unable to be productive in the ways society regards as valuable.

1. In most countries all over the world there are many more socially active, productive and healthy elderly people, especially under 80 years of age, than those who fit the out-of-date stereotyped notion of older people who are sick, passive, unproductive and serious burdens to their families and communities. In most societies the elderly are regarded simply as people necessitating more or less health and/or social care. Their indispensable role in policy-making, social movements, voluntary organizations etc., is often neglected or forgotten. Younger generations should change their attitude towards the aged, most of whom are not a nuisance or burden but a useful and integral part of society.

1. Unwanted female babies
2. Burden on society of widows

1. Suicide
2. Living alone
3. Humiliation
4. Gerontocide
5. Fear of death
6. Discrimination against the ill
7. Conflict of interest in the terminally ill

1. Vulnerability of human organism
2. Unmeaningful social roles for the aged
3. Unemployment
4. Socio-economically inactive population
5. Overemphasis on self-sufficiency with respect to interdependence
6. Fragmented social care at the neighbourhood level
7. Economic self-sufficiency handicap
8. Dependence of the disabled
9. Ageing of world population

1. Being a burden to others

1. Overburden
2. Burdensomeness
3. Being
4. Facility-Difficulty
5. Prosperity-Adversity
6. Oversufficiency-Insufficiency
7. Pleasantness-Unpleasantness
8. Action-Inaction
9. Caution-Rashness
10. Weight-Lightness