between a rock & a hard place

Arizona Senator John McCain recently spoke out for immigration reform, noting: I think most statistics show that they (immigrants) fill part of the workforce that are much needed. We have, and I’m a living example of, the aging population. We need these people in the workforce legally.

Senator McCain is in agreement with Ai-Jen Poo, who urges America to come to terms with the reality that our aging Boomer population & countless undocumented workers need each other.

The sad truth is that undocumented workers have been used for years to handle the sort of work others deem too beneath them, too disgusting to do themselves.  A shocking number of Americans include the care of our elderly & the dependent in that category - work they would never consider tackling themselves.

So, we have our most vulnerable population - the elderly, the dependent - increasingly relying on workers who are often not able to effectively communicate.  When they most need to feel a sense of connection with those around them, it's almost impossible for them to experience.  

I am not criticizing the workers who take on the day-to-day care of the elderly & dependent.  I am calling out all the people who consider it too demeaning to change a loved ones soiled clothes, who never bother learning how to change a bed, to give a sponge bath, to help them dress.  It mattered to my mother that I knew how to do those things, that John knew how to do them, too.  Yes, parts of it was disgusting.  But she was my Mom, so none of that mattered.

The growing need for support services for our aging population puts us between a rock & a hard place.  We need the "menial" workers who do the work we avoid, but we run smack against immigration policies that force them to stay invisible.  

Yes, we need immigration reform so the people we so desperately need to help our loved ones function are available - and well compensated. But we also need to get far beyond that rock & hard place, to an American culture that compassionately provides the care our elders & the dependent need, helping them with even the grossest needs, being there for them to talk to, to connect with, to help them feel visible & valued.