TimmyHA sad Inventor's tale
July 17th 2008 04:01
Last night I came across a story that most would find sweet and indeed so did the producers of The New Inventors. But when you consider the implications, I think a better reaction would be sadness. Not for the protagonists, but for the situation.
The New Inventors showcases work by amateur inventors. Within the format, each week a few inventors are chosen to give the show some human interest. In last night’s episode there was a young guy from Surfers Paradise who designed a prism to distil salt water and a sick elderly gentleman who had invented a motorised lift to help him take out his garbage bins.
Neither seems a deplorable, right? Think more closely about it.
This elderly gentleman owns a relatively small suburban house, situated between dozens of others. He isn’t living on a rural property, kilometres from his nearest kind neighbour. Presumably, his neighbourhood would likely have garbage day at the same time of the week. So why then does this modest and incredibly ill man have a problem with getting his bins to the front of the driveway in the first place?
Isn’t this situation indicative of a social neglect? How hard would it be to take out a neighbour’s bins when you do your own? I mean admittedly, I don’t take out my neighbour’s bin. But it wouldn’t take much for me to do it. Having someone entrust you with the responsibility to deal with their property because they are incapable would be an honour.
I appreciate that the elderly want a degree of independence and I also understand that the process of inventing this particular refuse device probably kept his mind alert and filled his time with something that was challenging and engaging but I can’t see how it should be a problem for one of his neighbours to take his bloody bin out.
I can’t do the classic “back in my day…we were a community…we looked out for each other…we respected our elders,” but I can without a doubt say that I thought it was socially irresponsible for someone not to be looking after this poor guy. Now I’m not saying his neighbours should be cooking him dinner and reading to him at night but come on, a bin? We all have to take out our bins, it takes all of 3 minutes to get it to the front road and walk back inside.
Does nobody else find this to be a sad little tale?
The New Inventors showcases work by amateur inventors. Within the format, each week a few inventors are chosen to give the show some human interest. In last night’s episode there was a young guy from Surfers Paradise who designed a prism to distil salt water and a sick elderly gentleman who had invented a motorised lift to help him take out his garbage bins.
Neither seems a deplorable, right? Think more closely about it.
This elderly gentleman owns a relatively small suburban house, situated between dozens of others. He isn’t living on a rural property, kilometres from his nearest kind neighbour. Presumably, his neighbourhood would likely have garbage day at the same time of the week. So why then does this modest and incredibly ill man have a problem with getting his bins to the front of the driveway in the first place?
Isn’t this situation indicative of a social neglect? How hard would it be to take out a neighbour’s bins when you do your own? I mean admittedly, I don’t take out my neighbour’s bin. But it wouldn’t take much for me to do it. Having someone entrust you with the responsibility to deal with their property because they are incapable would be an honour.
I appreciate that the elderly want a degree of independence and I also understand that the process of inventing this particular refuse device probably kept his mind alert and filled his time with something that was challenging and engaging but I can’t see how it should be a problem for one of his neighbours to take his bloody bin out.
I can’t do the classic “back in my day…we were a community…we looked out for each other…we respected our elders,” but I can without a doubt say that I thought it was socially irresponsible for someone not to be looking after this poor guy. Now I’m not saying his neighbours should be cooking him dinner and reading to him at night but come on, a bin? We all have to take out our bins, it takes all of 3 minutes to get it to the front road and walk back inside.
Does nobody else find this to be a sad little tale?
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Comment by alt_ed
Alted Opinion
ArtCombat
The Inner Saintdom
Many old people, may grandparents included value their independence above all. For a loss of this, can often mean a loss of dignity and worth (in their eyes of course).
In this case I think the gent deserves our praise, for applying a real solution to the issue at hand, utilising his wits and skills to creatively maintain his independence, and dignity.
Comment by TimmyH
Tech News
Can you HACK it?
Genyration
It would be interesting to see if said gentleman had been offered some help with his bins wouldn't it?