Care Center Visit

In one of our very first classes we talked about finding good informants, and the point was made that old age is not necessarily an indicator of good information. Those words came back to me on Tuesday when we were at the care center. Some of the women were still clearly quite sharp, and answered questions in great detail. However, the oldest residents, who could have been a wealth of knowledge, gave us little information because they could either not hear or simply could not remember. The elderly can be a great source of insight into the past because as they say 'with age comes wisdom', but there is an optimal time to gather that wisdom, and after that time barriers arise that inhibit information to be passed on. After our visit the thought crossed my mind that care homes are unnatural places. They're like museums of living human relics. Human beings are not intended to live to those ages, and the only reason people live that long is because of technology and dependence on others. I don't have a conclusion for this thought. It's just a weird thing to think about.