And, what would look like an abhorrent living condition to the grad student wasparadise to the elderly woman. Which leads us to believe that just as we all create our ownmeaning, so too do we create our own paradise. And those two areas are up for individualinterpretation. Often times,we try too hard to fill our care recipient's life with meaning. It seems that caregivers can provide the surroundings that are ripe for meaning, based ontheir care recipient's past.
Caregivers can purchase yarn, stock the refrigerator or organizethe tool box.
But we cannot make our care recipients knit, or bake, or build. We can be supportive in helping our care recipients' enjoy their last years, inencouraging them to remain active, independent. But, we cannot make them attend thesenior citizen center, or move into a retirement community or take a cab, rather than walk,for the five-mile trip to church. We impose on our time to spend with friends, family members,grandchildren, neighbors. We also rob ourselves of the focus needed to cultivate our own talents and to contributeto our communities.