Old age brings with it many insecurities and physical, emotional, mental and financial problems. No wonder, old people tend to get picky, selective and begin to show their idiosyncrasies. Some people call them mean, but the fact is that they become insecure and try to battle with their insecurities on daily basis. It manifests in their abrupt behavior.
With old age, the universal truth of life, “death,” seems to be inevitable. This kindles lots of insecurity in old people. It’s not the fear of their own death generally but the fear of their spouse’s death which makes them over protective for the spouse and hence sometimes mean. They will defend every word and action of their spouse and in that process tend to lose their sanity.
With old age, people suffer from lots of health problems. Constant battling with these health issues, old people tend to get irritable. Their bodies turn frail and health problems begin to increase in the same proportion. This makes them cranky and they manifest it through their mood swings.
Old age also brings lots of ego problems. Old people keep thinking about the power they used to enjoy during their youth at household level and in their professional lives. By the time these people get old, their children become mature and develop their own decision making habits, and simultaneously old people retire from their professional world. There is a sudden vacuum in the lives of old people, since all the venues of exercising power become a matter of past. This makes them mean, they try to prove their point, exert their influence or power over youngsters, to which the younger people generally do not succumb and this creates rift in their relationships.
We should not forget that every human being goes through this phase of life, sooner or later; hence when old people seem to be irrational in their actions and decisions, we (the youngsters) should not lose our calm and composure.
