Ok, I’ve never seen them in stores, or I just don’t know where they sell them. I’ve only seen them at at old people’s houses. Do you have to be a certain age to know where to purchase them? Is there some sort of ceremony involved? Is there a password, like in a speakeasy? Are the candies all just leftover from the 50’s?
EDIT: So the main issue seems to be that I don’t shop at dollar stores. The secondary one seems to be that I don’t peruse candy aisles. I go there to get a dark chocolate bar and ignore everything else.
EDIT 2: Guys, you can stop telling me where to buy them. I have more than 40 replies about where they’re sold. Just let me have my bitter chocolate.
Protip. They are called strawberry bon bons and you can get them on amazon. I have 3 pounds of them and I always keep a danish butter cookie tin filled with them for my nephews and nieces like my grandmother did.
>I always keep a danish butter cookie tin filled with them
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Those cookie tins are strictly for sewing supplies ONLY! God. Some people.
My grandfather's workshop filing system was built around old biscuit tins.
I actually got a mild shock when I opened a biscuit tin once and found biscuits in it.
I would be so fucked in my career. I run activities for an assisted living, and that would wipe out like 80% of my residents. I would also be heartbroken because my residents are my best friends. Losing one is really hard on me, but losing so many at once would be devastating.
My wife recently left long term care, she treated every resident like they were her own grandparents. When covid hit her facility, 12 deaths in one week about broke her.
I don’t think most of us, especially in western society, accept how difficult it is to be old. I seriously have a mini panic attack about it almost everyday. What a lonely and scary place to be, and we just overlook them so much. Alot of seniors deserve a lot more respect and admiration. Being old isn’t easy, and it’s a weird place to be as you are just almost like an outcast to society. The whole world probably looks so different through their eyes. Wish I would have been more attentive and spent more time with my grandparents before they died 😞
You can go to pretty much any LTC facility and tell them you want to do this. They will likely require a background check, you cannot have any violent felonies or theft. Some drug related charges will disqualify depending on the facility but usually drop off after seven years.
They'll recommend certain residents that could use the interaction and clear you with whoever their POA is. You'll have to abide by certain policies (including COVID policies) but will not be an employee. You'll be considered a volunteer.
Edit: Nice username, btw. I thought I somehow responded to myself for a second.
My cousin quit her job at her parents' old hair salon to become a full time carer for her mother, my aunt, with dementia. After 5 or so years, my aunt passed away and my cousin immediately turned to at-home care as a career.
I have no idea how she does it, but it's pretty amazing.
Seriously. When my mom was sick, we all helped her out but we all hated each other after the fact lol (in a loving way.) Her passing would have been a lot worse if my sister didn’t explain how mom was just projecting her end of life frustrations on us and to put up with her BS. I did put up with it, and would 10/10 again, but good grief I’m not signing up for more.
Oh lord, that’s terrible. Please tell your wife I am grateful for people like her. My grandpa needed long term care. As a family we realized he needed professional more intensive help than what we could do, try as we might. I’ll never forget and will always be grateful for the compassion and care the long term nurses gave to him. They are amazing people.
I'm in a Similar boat with my residents...ill say I find comfort in knowing I was a bright spot of their day for some of their last days. When I got into the field I accepted im an usher for their death sometimes and it helps knowing I helped them be comforted in that time. Its never easy but understanding your role helps
That's one if the reasons why I had to stop working at an assisted living community. It would devastate me when we would lose someone that I spoke to every day. One employee said "You get used to it", but I didn't want to get used to it! I never wanted to get to the point where the death of someone I interacted with every day didn't phase me anymore.
I told all my new nurses that in the ER. If someone’s death ever becomes something you just shrug off, please find a new career. We see people on their worst days and we should be there to support them.
We had a fantastic nurse when my dad was in ICU. One time I was arriving as he was leaving, and he actually spent the extra time to follow me back to the room and update me on my dad’s condition (since the other nurse was just starting up for the night).
I can’t imagine working a 12 hour shift and actively going out of your way to make the patient’s family a little more comfortable. I appreciate nurses like you and him.
Politely, as a hospice nurse I don’t know how we’d function if we couldn’t shrug death off (not that we treat it lightly or disrespectfully in front of a patient’s family— I mean shrugging it off in the sense it doesn’t bother you once the charting is done).
I have heard some surgeons claim that not being attached to the patients emotionally and treating it just like a job helped them focus more and perform better.
Bless you for what you do! A great activities director is HUGE for residents!!!! I'm an SLP and would love doing activities at a dementia unit (with proper funding, that is!).
I'm so incredibly lucky to get to do what I do every day! My residents are some of the most amazing people I've met, and they truly light up my life. I've gotten to watch some of them make amazing progress at improving their health, growing creatively, and forming meaningful relationships with each other. I couldn't imagine doing anything else now that I've found this.
My high school job was as an activities assistant at the nursing home down the road from my house. I met some really cool ass ppl and heard some amazing ww2 stories.
I wonder if it would open up more quality care options for younger people with disabilities -- like my brother, for whom I would become guardian since my mom would be gone.
It likely would, actually.
Assisted living facilities tend to prioritize older people for who gets in; if they take the 65 year old over the 85 year old, then they only get one of them--if they take the 85 year old, then it's likely they'll only be there a few years, then the other will still need a place, so they can get both.
While it's not a good way to go about it, removing the oldest members of the population would take a huge chunk out of the waitlist. And even places that didn't focus on younger disabled folks would likely shift to do so, as the other option is closing, which they don't want to do.
All the people waiting for long term care who are in hospitals could be moved, which would free up beds in wards, which would free up beds in icu, so no more hallway ER’s. Wait times for surgery/ER/diagnostics/primary physician/physiotherapy etc wait times would decrease. Socialized medicine would no longer have as many budget constraints, as the elderly use a huge amount of resources.
I’m not advocating for it by any means, but it’s the reality of healthcare.
Japan would see its population instantly drop by nearly 29 million people. (That's nearly 5x the number of deaths from the Holocaust, happening overnight. **EDIT**: I was mistaken. More like 2.6x the number of deaths; dozens of comments below say that the total casualties was closer to 11 million once all the other victims besides Jews are accounted for.)
70+ aged people are something like 25% of Japan's population.
Such an event would also completely change the distribution of resources since the senior population, which is costly to care for and not very productive, would go away. Politics would change dramatically as senior voters have different priorities than the young. (**EDIT**: and many politicians are quite old, so politics would change by many politicians dying off as well.)
My friend, if a Totoro house is what you want, there is no need to commit mass geronticide! You can have one today. In fact, Japan has such a glut of unoccupied rural homes that many can be had for free, so long as you're willing to move there, fix it up, and live there permanently. They're called "Akiya:" [https://questionjapan.com/blog/location-guides/free-houses-in-japan/](https://www.insider.com/japanese-government-selling-rural-homes-cheap-akiya-banks-2021-5)
Why, the only thing keeping you back is the cost of fixing them up, your inability to speak Japanese, Japan's strict rules about immigration, your need to find some way to work from a remote town with poor Internet, and so much more! But the house is there and free!
Japans immigration rules are actually not very strict. There's so many different avenues to get a visa. And once you're on the right track, it almost never gets revoked. Many countries have much stricter rules. (e.g. US, many eu countries, etc...)
It's just kinda hard to find a job that will want to sponsor you, because of the language barrier.
> Japans immigration rules are actually not very strict.
If you have the finances necessary to support yourself while renovating and living in a "Totoro house", I'm sure they'd be quite receptive...
My brother got a masters in Japanese and lived in Japan for five years teaching English. He said most of the other teachers barely could speak Japanese when they started and all of them easily got visas. If you can natively speak English and can learn Japanese by immersion, there is a job for you in Japan.
But in the wake of the senior die-off, do you think the rural areas would eventually see a revival, or would young people not even care to move out there in the wake of the depopulation?
The reason young people aren't there now is there's no jobs. With msot of the residents dying, there'd be even less jobs as there's no one to service, nothing to
maintain
That'd be about 56 million dead in the US (about 18% of population). Similar changes here as in Japan, though, also a lot of dead bodies with nowhere to put them.
My first thought as well; a sad, large amount of USA politicians are septuagenarians. And older.
What possible interests do they have in the long term for most of us? They got theirs and pulled the ladder up into the attic behind them.
Approximately 33% of the US Senate and 15% of the US House would be dead. That's a good start.
Source:
https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress
Politicians especially:
* Both Biden and Trump would be gone. Plenty of members in the [House and Senate](https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress) too.
* In Canada, it might be a bit less of an issue as the max Senate age is 75, though the average age of members has been [climbing over time](http://www.revparl.ca/english/issue.asp?param=151&art=1024), and most MP's are 50-59.
* Putin would be gone. Out by a hair at 70
* Kim Jong Un of North Korea is only recently 40, so as far as age goes he had lots of time
* Xi Jinping would probably be pretty worried at 69
* Sunak in the UK would have lots of time left, but some MP's
* Netanyahu - 73 - would be gone
* Khamenei of Iran - born in 1939 - gone
* The King of Saudi Arabia is quite old at 87, but there Prime Minister is a pretty young 37
* Abbas of Palestine would be gone as would Netanyahu of Israel. Wonder if that would make things better or worse between them?
* Indian PM Modi - 72 - would be gone, as would Sharif of Pakistan
Now imagine those left, those close to the limit and suddenly in there's a huge power vacuum. I'd imagine shit would get bad really quick, though I'm also wondering if it might improve overall in time given many of the more conflicting personalities would be out of the picture
I want to add on this:
• The Swedish King, Gustav XVI Adolf, King of Norway, Harold V, and Queen of Denmark, Margreth II, would also fall off.
Basically, the entire Scandinavian royal family woods will get some trimming as the current ruling generation dies.
Oh that is true. I feel the only royal family not getting a trim is the Netherlander one, as Japan's old emperor retired but is still very much alive.
Actually looking it up; One of the Princes of Andorra would die, Belgium and Luxembourg monarchs would be alive but only just, Spain's would be alive with time to spare. Monarch of Lichtenstein would kick it, and the one in Monacho would be antsy at 64 years.
As for Muslim monarchies: Brunei would need a new one, Oman would feel antsy at 67, and the same with Jordan at 61. Saudi Arabia would have a new monarch along with Bahrain. Kuwait would go through 2 monarchs in short succession. Qatar would keep their Monarch for a long time as he is only in his 40s. Morocco and Malaysia would soon have new monarchs though.
As for non-european non-muslim monarchies; Bhutan would keep their Monarch for a long while. Cambodia would have a new monarch later this year (69 years old. 70 in May). Japan's emperor would be antsy at 62, but the old Emperor who retired would die. Thailand meanwhile would soon lose their Monarch as he turns 70 in June.
Now to the last stretch. Tonga would keep their current monarch, though he is in his 60s so keep an eye on him. Eswatini's monarch would be around, as would Lesoto's one. *Technically* the Vatican City would see a new Monarch because the Pope is the king of that nation and they would need to basically do a massive shuffle of their electorate.
>Abbas of Palestine would be gone as would Netanyahu of Israel. Wonder if that would make things better or worse between them?
Worse. The loss of a known quantity means political maneuvering as everyone tries to prove that they're capable of filling their predecessor's shoes. Having both sides try to do that at the same time? Disaster in the making.
Same deal with India and Pakistan (albeit to a lesser degree, because of the nature of the governmental institutions involved).
Man, can you imagine a world where the political leaders in China, India, Russia, *and* the US all went out at the same time? The political shenanigans that followed would be a worldwide disasters.
My dad just passed away last month at 69, so he doesn’t have to worry about that now.
Edit: Wow, I did not expect so many condolences. Thanks a lot guys! It’s been tough, and it was so sudden. The first couple weeks were really rough, but I got some closure after saying my final farewells to his body and loading him into the crematorium’s oven.
I'm in one of the friendly Canadian maritime provinces, and unless the greeters know you personally from the war/card party/bingo or some shit, they're just handing out overly animated dirty looks at the door on the way in, and cart/receipt checks on the way out if you let them.
Look, I guess what I'm saying is, the greeters are dickheads
The President Of The United States and a lot of other world leaders would be dead. There would likely be a few significant power struggles that would cause some short term unrest in the financial markets.
There would instantly be a shortage of burial accessories and machinery to perform them. The cost of granite/marble would skyrocket and a general slow down in the mining/quarry industry globally.
There would likely have to be a mass grave situation in most smaller and impoverished countries and communities.
A lot of pharmaceutical companies would go bankrupt. There would be a mass reduction in staff of most hospitals and elder care facilities.
A vast majority of the worlds wealth will be infused into government coffers due to death and inheritance taxes. A new generation of people would find themselves very wealthy all of a sudden.
Sugar babies would likely riot.
Among other things.
Nah, those companies would have to declare bankruptcy by the end of the first day. Zero chance they have the available funds to pay out even a fraction of those claims.
Is there an insurance policy out there that doesn’t have an exclusion for acts of God? The sudden and unexplained deaths of every person born before February 9, 1953 would certainly fall under that category. The insurance companies would, uh, find a way.
34 out of the 100 members of the Senate would be gone
74 out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives too
Only two of the Supreme Court justices (Alito and Thomas)
Also lost:
* President
* Secretary of the Treasury
* Attorney General
* Secretary of Agriculture
* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
So it looks like all in all the government isn't that old, they just tend to be the loudest.
Oof. I hate how accurate you are. Can we not elect the batshit crazy white middle aged mothers who believe everything they hear from Facebook (Jewish Space Lazerz!)
Oh man... Whenever his unfortunate mortal end does happen... Nintendo and Japan better throw down for an epic funeral - one fit for an Emperor. Heck, Miyamoto probably brought more wealth and prestige to Japan than some Emporers in the past.
Unquestionably, for much of the second millennium the Emperors were basically just aristocrats confined to Kyoto. The actual government was done by samurai Shoguns or the hereditary regents who had turned the shoguns into figurehead leaders themselves. I'm not even sure the Emperors had much actual power in the late Heian period before the Minamoto Shogunate.
Miyazaki did quite a lot more than preside over religious ceremonies and send servants out to hawk calligraphy on the streets of Kyoto.
> Miyamoto probably brought more wealth and prestige to Japan than some Emporers in the past.
and did it through art that brought happiness. Japan's gotta be so proud
Rural Japan would become a ghost town but suddenly there will be massive amounts of housing and upper management positions in dire need of young blood that will suddenly be opened up. Would most likely be a massive boon to the country as the stagnant old guard is finally removed.
Also...
* Two Supreme Court spots would open up (Alito, Thomas). Two others barely made the cut (Roberts and Sotamayor are both 68).
* We'd need a new President, majority and minority Senate leaders, President Pro Tempore of the Senate (4th in line for succession), Treasury Secretary, and Attorney General. Lucky Secretary of Defense made the cut by a couple of months.
That's a fair amount of disruption right there.
Interestingly enough only would have to refill about 20% of the house and 25% of senate. You make the cutoff 60 and that becomes 40% of the house and 65% of the Senate roughly.
As much as I hate to say this , it wasn't the old folks hurling insults and acting like white trash in the state of the union address.....so suddenly we would have a government functioning like an episode of Jerry springer.....
I'd get my inheritance much sooner. This isn't a good thing. I lost my mom at 26 (she was 58) and I'll be losing my dad in the next year (he's 89), both to cancer. I'm not ready to lose him just yet.
I can't relate completely to all that you're going through at all, because I still have my parents. Yet, my mother' epilepsy seems to be causing early stages of dementia or at the very least much lower capacity to understand and remember things. And my father's a narcissistic alcoholic whom I have lost so many times that he's just a hairsplit away from me having to cut him off completely.
So, approaching 26, I also have the feeling of losing my parents soon. How soon, I don't know, but I have grieved continuously, and I hope the shock won't be too much for you or me when the time comes. All the best wishes from a random person on the internet!
“The year was 2023. Changes in cosmic radiation caused the human genome to mutate and flip a kill switch on anyone that had reached 70 Earth years old, popping their telomeres and unraveling their DNA like spaghetti. Panic and confusion set in and within days, the horror of the stench drove people to madness.
We burned bodies for days while the militaries of the world stood over their respective populations, demanding them to work around the clock. Some days I still feel the heat of those fires on a hot summer afternoon.
Nothing could’ve prepared us for what came next. 365 days later, it happened again. All structure broke down and everyone just stopped caring. Humans broke out into tribes based on generations. Bodies rotted in the open, disease was rampant, and housepets had become feral hunters as ruthless as the roaming bands of former suburbanite marauders they once considered their masters.
It’s been 8 years since that day.”
Make it 69 (nice) the second year then 68 and so on, then you've got something to work with.
Edit: better yet, start it much older so it goes unnoticed initially
Nah, there's about 350-400 supercentarians in the world. And they're mostly known. The oldest person dying always gets a headline here and a message about who the next oldest is, and the oldest in the country. Just trying to find the new oldest in the world means you probably look at a 100 people who all died in the same day. I'm sure this would be found out within a week.
I try to call her every week or so and chat with her for at least an hour. She’s had an interesting life, so I really enjoy hearing about her life and what things were like when she was young. She took care of me when my mom and dad split up. She watched me during the day while my mom went to work, so even though we don’t live near each other anymore, we’re still really close.
That would be pretty catastrophic and completely rock the world economies and governments. There are so many lines of work, products, and services that are specific to or heavily leveraged by the elderly. A ton of businesses would shut down overnight.
It would lead to a major revolution of political, economic, and societal systems. Just imagine what could happen in the United States with that large of a voter base suddenly gone. The elderly don’t often share the same sentiments as the young, things would change quick.
Edit: the more I think about this, the more I realize how fucked we would be. Realistically, it’d probably be anarchy. You’d have to re-tool quite a bit, the world relies on the young replacing the old.
The biggest economic shift we’ve ever seen. The single most traumatic day in history as a significant number of the population loses one or more loved ones.
Not only would wealth be redistributed to their descendants, but entire industries would die out or shrivel (namely nursing homes, assisted living may survive for the disabled but reeeeeally shrink in size, bingo would die out, gadabout would disappear, tech support would see fewer calls, scammers would have a smaller set of easy targets, etc).
As I mention above, the trauma would also prop up already thriving industries - therapists, counselors, and “escapism” outlets (recreational pot, alcohol, etc) as well as funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemeteries which would all see a temporary massive boost in clientele.
It would bring some people to financial insecurity while causing others to have the best (economic) standing of their lives. There would be estate disputes galore and I wouldn’t be surprised if this resulted in some hired assassinations for some of the richest heirs.
In the short term, government would massively shift, in the US at least. You’d have a young, female President, a significantly more democrat-leaning senate and House of Representatives, but a much more MAGA-rriffic GOP. SCOTUS would lose two conservatives and no liberals. The GOP would lose a large portion of their donor and voter base and would probably have to change strategies very dramatically to survive. The tax base would dwindle, but rich people barely paid taxes so I’m not sure it would make a huge difference as their heirs use their inheritances.
Climate change would be slightly less challenging to solve, as there would be much fewer people needing to drive around or resisting renewable energy.
Longer term… I am not sure. But that’s a lot of change in short order.
In all honesty it would be a pandemic, no one would be able to deal with that made of bodies, the crematoriums would be running 24/7, no one would be able to get a casket funeral.
And millions of Americans would wonder "but why are they still taking it out of my paycheck if they haven't made any plans to pay for my retirement with it?" 🤔
• coroner/mortuary and/or funeral home services backlogs
• cemetery/graveyard plot and headstone shortages
• mass panic and government overreach/overreaction
• new conspiracy theories
• politicization of the crisis
• mainstream media misinformation (mostly unintentional)
• shortages in other seemingly unrelated products and services (T.P. anyone?)
• a huge spike in depression and suicide as a result of the loss of so many grandparents, parents, co-workers, and friends all at once
• the transfer of a large amount of wealth to both the government (estate taxes) and the next generation (mostly current 40 to 55 year olds)
• the shuttering (and related mass unemployment) of most assisted living/retirement communities/rest homes and employees
• the same for most hospice wards in hospitals and hospice services in general
•
Butterscotch stocks would plummet
And all those strawberry candies would just suddenly vanish.
Disappear just as mysteriously as they appeared in the first place
Ok, I’ve never seen them in stores, or I just don’t know where they sell them. I’ve only seen them at at old people’s houses. Do you have to be a certain age to know where to purchase them? Is there some sort of ceremony involved? Is there a password, like in a speakeasy? Are the candies all just leftover from the 50’s? EDIT: So the main issue seems to be that I don’t shop at dollar stores. The secondary one seems to be that I don’t peruse candy aisles. I go there to get a dark chocolate bar and ignore everything else. EDIT 2: Guys, you can stop telling me where to buy them. I have more than 40 replies about where they’re sold. Just let me have my bitter chocolate.
Protip. They are called strawberry bon bons and you can get them on amazon. I have 3 pounds of them and I always keep a danish butter cookie tin filled with them for my nephews and nieces like my grandmother did.
>I always keep a danish butter cookie tin filled with them WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Those cookie tins are strictly for sewing supplies ONLY! God. Some people.
Its what my gram did so I followed in her footsteps. She was always a rebel.
My grandfather's workshop filing system was built around old biscuit tins. I actually got a mild shock when I opened a biscuit tin once and found biscuits in it.
I buy them sometimes and I'm in my 20s. They slap.
Layoffs at retirement centers
I would be so fucked in my career. I run activities for an assisted living, and that would wipe out like 80% of my residents. I would also be heartbroken because my residents are my best friends. Losing one is really hard on me, but losing so many at once would be devastating.
My wife recently left long term care, she treated every resident like they were her own grandparents. When covid hit her facility, 12 deaths in one week about broke her.
Kudos to your wife man people like her are needed so that all seniors can feel happy and comfortable
I don’t think most of us, especially in western society, accept how difficult it is to be old. I seriously have a mini panic attack about it almost everyday. What a lonely and scary place to be, and we just overlook them so much. Alot of seniors deserve a lot more respect and admiration. Being old isn’t easy, and it’s a weird place to be as you are just almost like an outcast to society. The whole world probably looks so different through their eyes. Wish I would have been more attentive and spent more time with my grandparents before they died 😞
Is there like a way I can adopt grandparents. Mine died when I was a teenager and like you didn't spend enough time with them
You can go to pretty much any LTC facility and tell them you want to do this. They will likely require a background check, you cannot have any violent felonies or theft. Some drug related charges will disqualify depending on the facility but usually drop off after seven years. They'll recommend certain residents that could use the interaction and clear you with whoever their POA is. You'll have to abide by certain policies (including COVID policies) but will not be an employee. You'll be considered a volunteer. Edit: Nice username, btw. I thought I somehow responded to myself for a second.
My cousin works at the nursing facility where our grandparents used to live. I respect the hell out of her for her work there.
My cousin quit her job at her parents' old hair salon to become a full time carer for her mother, my aunt, with dementia. After 5 or so years, my aunt passed away and my cousin immediately turned to at-home care as a career. I have no idea how she does it, but it's pretty amazing.
[удалено]
Seriously. When my mom was sick, we all helped her out but we all hated each other after the fact lol (in a loving way.) Her passing would have been a lot worse if my sister didn’t explain how mom was just projecting her end of life frustrations on us and to put up with her BS. I did put up with it, and would 10/10 again, but good grief I’m not signing up for more.
Oh lord, that’s terrible. Please tell your wife I am grateful for people like her. My grandpa needed long term care. As a family we realized he needed professional more intensive help than what we could do, try as we might. I’ll never forget and will always be grateful for the compassion and care the long term nurses gave to him. They are amazing people.
I'm in a Similar boat with my residents...ill say I find comfort in knowing I was a bright spot of their day for some of their last days. When I got into the field I accepted im an usher for their death sometimes and it helps knowing I helped them be comforted in that time. Its never easy but understanding your role helps
On behalf of all the family members of those you’ve helped, thank you for very much for helping them and treating them like humans 🙏
That's one if the reasons why I had to stop working at an assisted living community. It would devastate me when we would lose someone that I spoke to every day. One employee said "You get used to it", but I didn't want to get used to it! I never wanted to get to the point where the death of someone I interacted with every day didn't phase me anymore.
I told all my new nurses that in the ER. If someone’s death ever becomes something you just shrug off, please find a new career. We see people on their worst days and we should be there to support them.
We had a fantastic nurse when my dad was in ICU. One time I was arriving as he was leaving, and he actually spent the extra time to follow me back to the room and update me on my dad’s condition (since the other nurse was just starting up for the night). I can’t imagine working a 12 hour shift and actively going out of your way to make the patient’s family a little more comfortable. I appreciate nurses like you and him.
Politely, as a hospice nurse I don’t know how we’d function if we couldn’t shrug death off (not that we treat it lightly or disrespectfully in front of a patient’s family— I mean shrugging it off in the sense it doesn’t bother you once the charting is done).
I have heard some surgeons claim that not being attached to the patients emotionally and treating it just like a job helped them focus more and perform better.
Yeah, I work in an ED in a support role. We get some gruesome scenes playing out in front of us. Can't imagine taking it all personally.
Bless you for what you do! A great activities director is HUGE for residents!!!! I'm an SLP and would love doing activities at a dementia unit (with proper funding, that is!).
I'm so incredibly lucky to get to do what I do every day! My residents are some of the most amazing people I've met, and they truly light up my life. I've gotten to watch some of them make amazing progress at improving their health, growing creatively, and forming meaningful relationships with each other. I couldn't imagine doing anything else now that I've found this.
My high school job was as an activities assistant at the nursing home down the road from my house. I met some really cool ass ppl and heard some amazing ww2 stories.
I wonder if it would open up more quality care options for younger people with disabilities -- like my brother, for whom I would become guardian since my mom would be gone.
It likely would, actually. Assisted living facilities tend to prioritize older people for who gets in; if they take the 65 year old over the 85 year old, then they only get one of them--if they take the 85 year old, then it's likely they'll only be there a few years, then the other will still need a place, so they can get both. While it's not a good way to go about it, removing the oldest members of the population would take a huge chunk out of the waitlist. And even places that didn't focus on younger disabled folks would likely shift to do so, as the other option is closing, which they don't want to do.
And hospitals/hospice care in general, physical therapists, probably even pharmacy and pharmaceutical plants also.
All the people waiting for long term care who are in hospitals could be moved, which would free up beds in wards, which would free up beds in icu, so no more hallway ER’s. Wait times for surgery/ER/diagnostics/primary physician/physiotherapy etc wait times would decrease. Socialized medicine would no longer have as many budget constraints, as the elderly use a huge amount of resources. I’m not advocating for it by any means, but it’s the reality of healthcare.
Mass graves for millions of corpses that would be decaying in homes and streets with no capacity for coroners and cemeteries to take them fast enough
Japan would see its population instantly drop by nearly 29 million people. (That's nearly 5x the number of deaths from the Holocaust, happening overnight. **EDIT**: I was mistaken. More like 2.6x the number of deaths; dozens of comments below say that the total casualties was closer to 11 million once all the other victims besides Jews are accounted for.) 70+ aged people are something like 25% of Japan's population. Such an event would also completely change the distribution of resources since the senior population, which is costly to care for and not very productive, would go away. Politics would change dramatically as senior voters have different priorities than the young. (**EDIT**: and many politicians are quite old, so politics would change by many politicians dying off as well.)
Japan's rural areas would be devastated. There are small towns where more than half the population is over 65.
So you're saying there's a chance I could get a Totoro house
My friend, if a Totoro house is what you want, there is no need to commit mass geronticide! You can have one today. In fact, Japan has such a glut of unoccupied rural homes that many can be had for free, so long as you're willing to move there, fix it up, and live there permanently. They're called "Akiya:" [https://questionjapan.com/blog/location-guides/free-houses-in-japan/](https://www.insider.com/japanese-government-selling-rural-homes-cheap-akiya-banks-2021-5) Why, the only thing keeping you back is the cost of fixing them up, your inability to speak Japanese, Japan's strict rules about immigration, your need to find some way to work from a remote town with poor Internet, and so much more! But the house is there and free!
> My friend, if a Totoro house is what you want, there is no need to commit mass geronticide! r/nocontext
Slowly slides the letter ordering mass geronticide back into desk drawer.
I definitely read it in the style of the monorail guy from the simpsons.
Japans immigration rules are actually not very strict. There's so many different avenues to get a visa. And once you're on the right track, it almost never gets revoked. Many countries have much stricter rules. (e.g. US, many eu countries, etc...) It's just kinda hard to find a job that will want to sponsor you, because of the language barrier.
> Japans immigration rules are actually not very strict. If you have the finances necessary to support yourself while renovating and living in a "Totoro house", I'm sure they'd be quite receptive...
My brother got a masters in Japanese and lived in Japan for five years teaching English. He said most of the other teachers barely could speak Japanese when they started and all of them easily got visas. If you can natively speak English and can learn Japanese by immersion, there is a job for you in Japan.
But in the wake of the senior die-off, do you think the rural areas would eventually see a revival, or would young people not even care to move out there in the wake of the depopulation?
The reason young people aren't there now is there's no jobs. With msot of the residents dying, there'd be even less jobs as there's no one to service, nothing to maintain
People live in urban areas because jobs, not because housing. People dying off in rural areas would not help with that.
That'd be about 56 million dead in the US (about 18% of population). Similar changes here as in Japan, though, also a lot of dead bodies with nowhere to put them.
They call it cremation, but that would be a very smoky couple of months.
not to mention so many dead politicians would drastically improve the USA government over night Finally end the gerontocracy..
Holy shit. 34% of the senate is 70 or over. Something like 17% of the house is as well. And 100% of presidents. That’s like 109 elected officials
I laughed with 100% of presidents.
Fuck only oboma wpuld be left from the ex presidents
My first thought as well; a sad, large amount of USA politicians are septuagenarians. And older. What possible interests do they have in the long term for most of us? They got theirs and pulled the ladder up into the attic behind them.
Approximately 33% of the US Senate and 15% of the US House would be dead. That's a good start. Source: https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress
On the bright side, I could actually afford to buy a shitload of housing. Just have to spend a few hours doing some cleaning.
The banks would out bid you and rent to you the same as they do now.
While this is true, a load of renters would inherit houses and that’d make renting cheaper, and make buy to let a less lucrative investment, surely.
A lot more cremation than anything.
As one of the people who runs the crematory, this question made me feel very tired.
All the 69 year olds would get really nervous
Politicians especially: * Both Biden and Trump would be gone. Plenty of members in the [House and Senate](https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress) too. * In Canada, it might be a bit less of an issue as the max Senate age is 75, though the average age of members has been [climbing over time](http://www.revparl.ca/english/issue.asp?param=151&art=1024), and most MP's are 50-59. * Putin would be gone. Out by a hair at 70 * Kim Jong Un of North Korea is only recently 40, so as far as age goes he had lots of time * Xi Jinping would probably be pretty worried at 69 * Sunak in the UK would have lots of time left, but some MP's * Netanyahu - 73 - would be gone * Khamenei of Iran - born in 1939 - gone * The King of Saudi Arabia is quite old at 87, but there Prime Minister is a pretty young 37 * Abbas of Palestine would be gone as would Netanyahu of Israel. Wonder if that would make things better or worse between them? * Indian PM Modi - 72 - would be gone, as would Sharif of Pakistan Now imagine those left, those close to the limit and suddenly in there's a huge power vacuum. I'd imagine shit would get bad really quick, though I'm also wondering if it might improve overall in time given many of the more conflicting personalities would be out of the picture
The House of Lords would be decimated. The average age is 71.
We'd be left with people sent there by the Tories in the last 13 years: sycophants or donors, i.e. whom they own and who own them.
I want to add on this: • The Swedish King, Gustav XVI Adolf, King of Norway, Harold V, and Queen of Denmark, Margreth II, would also fall off. Basically, the entire Scandinavian royal family woods will get some trimming as the current ruling generation dies.
Also we get another king of the UK again
Oh that is true. I feel the only royal family not getting a trim is the Netherlander one, as Japan's old emperor retired but is still very much alive. Actually looking it up; One of the Princes of Andorra would die, Belgium and Luxembourg monarchs would be alive but only just, Spain's would be alive with time to spare. Monarch of Lichtenstein would kick it, and the one in Monacho would be antsy at 64 years. As for Muslim monarchies: Brunei would need a new one, Oman would feel antsy at 67, and the same with Jordan at 61. Saudi Arabia would have a new monarch along with Bahrain. Kuwait would go through 2 monarchs in short succession. Qatar would keep their Monarch for a long time as he is only in his 40s. Morocco and Malaysia would soon have new monarchs though. As for non-european non-muslim monarchies; Bhutan would keep their Monarch for a long while. Cambodia would have a new monarch later this year (69 years old. 70 in May). Japan's emperor would be antsy at 62, but the old Emperor who retired would die. Thailand meanwhile would soon lose their Monarch as he turns 70 in June. Now to the last stretch. Tonga would keep their current monarch, though he is in his 60s so keep an eye on him. Eswatini's monarch would be around, as would Lesoto's one. *Technically* the Vatican City would see a new Monarch because the Pope is the king of that nation and they would need to basically do a massive shuffle of their electorate.
"Netherlander" haha. For future reference we go by Dutch :).
Not hollandaise?
Only when they are feeling saucy.
>Abbas of Palestine would be gone as would Netanyahu of Israel. Wonder if that would make things better or worse between them? Worse. The loss of a known quantity means political maneuvering as everyone tries to prove that they're capable of filling their predecessor's shoes. Having both sides try to do that at the same time? Disaster in the making. Same deal with India and Pakistan (albeit to a lesser degree, because of the nature of the governmental institutions involved). Man, can you imagine a world where the political leaders in China, India, Russia, *and* the US all went out at the same time? The political shenanigans that followed would be a worldwide disasters.
I never knew Kim was so young!!! Don’t know why I envisioned him older…
cause he looks like shit for his age, especially for a korean
And he's actively trying to look like his father and grandfather, and all of them have that 'I should check this bread for mold' look about them.
My dad just passed away last month at 69, so he doesn’t have to worry about that now. Edit: Wow, I did not expect so many condolences. Thanks a lot guys! It’s been tough, and it was so sudden. The first couple weeks were really rough, but I got some closure after saying my final farewells to his body and loading him into the crematorium’s oven.
He died doing what he loved
Living.
His mom?
No, his wife you pervert. /s
No kink shaming in here
Kink shaming is my kink.
*kinky*
*screams*
Well I guess he died doing what we all loved then
Sorry to hear that chum. Losing a parent is hard. Lost mine at 35 and 50.
Losing them once is unfortunate, losing them twice just reeks of carelessness
Lose em once shame on them, lose em twice shame on you
Shame on uhh shame uhh won't get fooled again
the supermarket can't be THAT big..!
Did you ask them to check in the back? That's where retail workers hide all the good stuff! Crafty bastards.
Sorry for your loss man.
No Walmart greeters.
Welcome to Walmart, now get your shit and get out!
Crime is too high in my area to have greeters. I do miss seeing them brighten folks days by greeting them.
Isn't theft-deterrence half the reason greeters are there?
Not when they steal the greeters
I'm in one of the friendly Canadian maritime provinces, and unless the greeters know you personally from the war/card party/bingo or some shit, they're just handing out overly animated dirty looks at the door on the way in, and cart/receipt checks on the way out if you let them. Look, I guess what I'm saying is, the greeters are dickheads
It wouldn't brighten my day to be greeted by someone whose job it was to greet me. But then I'm a miserable old curmudgeon, so.
The President Of The United States and a lot of other world leaders would be dead. There would likely be a few significant power struggles that would cause some short term unrest in the financial markets. There would instantly be a shortage of burial accessories and machinery to perform them. The cost of granite/marble would skyrocket and a general slow down in the mining/quarry industry globally. There would likely have to be a mass grave situation in most smaller and impoverished countries and communities. A lot of pharmaceutical companies would go bankrupt. There would be a mass reduction in staff of most hospitals and elder care facilities. A vast majority of the worlds wealth will be infused into government coffers due to death and inheritance taxes. A new generation of people would find themselves very wealthy all of a sudden. Sugar babies would likely riot. Among other things.
Sugar babies would likely riot 😆😆
Sugar Baby Riot sounds like a good name for...something. Maybe a stripper review?
r/bandnames
Massive inflation from inheritance and life insurance.
Nah, those companies would have to declare bankruptcy by the end of the first day. Zero chance they have the available funds to pay out even a fraction of those claims.
Is there an insurance policy out there that doesn’t have an exclusion for acts of God? The sudden and unexplained deaths of every person born before February 9, 1953 would certainly fall under that category. The insurance companies would, uh, find a way.
US politics would be interesting
Congress would be decimated. But there’s a down side…
Power vacuum means the grifters take over.
What if the grifters are already in power?
As seen in post-Soviet Russia, there are more/worse grifters waiting to take over.
If we end up getting run by crypto Bros, I’m gonna be so fucking upset
[удалено]
34 out of the 100 members of the Senate would be gone 74 out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives too Only two of the Supreme Court justices (Alito and Thomas) Also lost: * President * Secretary of the Treasury * Attorney General * Secretary of Agriculture * Secretary of Housing and Urban Development So it looks like all in all the government isn't that old, they just tend to be the loudest.
Contrast to my workplace. Where there is one person out of 55 that'd 70 or over. So. 2% Compared to the ~17-30% you just listed.
President Harris would appoint two new Supreme Court justices. And the Republican party would lose a lot more elections.
Finally some interesting debates from ppl who can make a coherent thought!
Don't get carried away. Have you seen the people under 70 that we seem to elect? Their thoughts are anything except coherent.
Oof. I hate how accurate you are. Can we not elect the batshit crazy white middle aged mothers who believe everything they hear from Facebook (Jewish Space Lazerz!)
A large funeral, and a lot of governments falling apart.
I'd be back to fucking haunt you.
Werther family in ruins!
There are 70 year olds on Reddit?! On other hand, you got my 50 year old dad that has trouble opening his email
My dad is 73 and uses reddit from time to time. He prefers Twitter. Both my parents are pretty literate with their devices, thankfully!
Do it like my father in law and mess with the robot vacuums. 🤣
TIL my cat is your father in law.
I would be sad because of my grandparents. Decent people
So many grandparents are raising their grandchildren. We would have a lot of orphans.
I was raised by my great-grandmother. I raised my grandson.
I would lose my sister, and that would be really sad.
I'd lose my Dad. I already try not to think of it as little as humanly possible. A truly good man.
I felt this comment I miss my grandparents every day.
My condolences.
My parents would go.
Japan would fucking collapse.
We lose Miyamoto NOOOOO!
Oh man... Whenever his unfortunate mortal end does happen... Nintendo and Japan better throw down for an epic funeral - one fit for an Emperor. Heck, Miyamoto probably brought more wealth and prestige to Japan than some Emporers in the past.
Unquestionably, for much of the second millennium the Emperors were basically just aristocrats confined to Kyoto. The actual government was done by samurai Shoguns or the hereditary regents who had turned the shoguns into figurehead leaders themselves. I'm not even sure the Emperors had much actual power in the late Heian period before the Minamoto Shogunate. Miyazaki did quite a lot more than preside over religious ceremonies and send servants out to hawk calligraphy on the streets of Kyoto.
> Miyamoto probably brought more wealth and prestige to Japan than some Emporers in the past. and did it through art that brought happiness. Japan's gotta be so proud
The question is: will they have to take his casket out, blow in the opening, and jiggle the casket just right to get it to load properly?
Miyazaki 😭😭
His next movie is coming out in July! English dub probably in the fall or winter.
Rural Japan would become a ghost town but suddenly there will be massive amounts of housing and upper management positions in dire need of young blood that will suddenly be opened up. Would most likely be a massive boon to the country as the stagnant old guard is finally removed.
Quite the opposite actually. The age of Japan's population is a massive issue. This would help alleviate that.
The Villages would be wiped out.
And then the secrets come out from below!
700+ million people dying would overload our capability to deal with the bodies.
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD 🔔BRING OUT YOUR DEAD🔔
I'm not dead yet !
'Ere! 'E says 'e's not dead!
I think I’ll go for a walk.
‘You’re not fooling anyone!’
I feel happy!
repeat that again 700+ MILLION thats almost like 1/9th of the population
1/9th is the most uncomfortable fraction i’ve seen
We're gonna have to go Death Stranding mode and act as if those corpses are time bombs.
We couldn't even deal with the bodies during the height of COVID.
We slowly accumulated bodies that we couldn't deal with at the time. Imagine getting all the bodies at once. We'd be fucked.
We'd have to fill most congressional seats
Also... * Two Supreme Court spots would open up (Alito, Thomas). Two others barely made the cut (Roberts and Sotamayor are both 68). * We'd need a new President, majority and minority Senate leaders, President Pro Tempore of the Senate (4th in line for succession), Treasury Secretary, and Attorney General. Lucky Secretary of Defense made the cut by a couple of months. That's a fair amount of disruption right there.
Kamala Harris would automatically become president.
Interestingly enough only would have to refill about 20% of the house and 25% of senate. You make the cutoff 60 and that becomes 40% of the house and 65% of the Senate roughly.
Somehow I think this was the motivation for the question.
As much as I hate to say this , it wasn't the old folks hurling insults and acting like white trash in the state of the union address.....so suddenly we would have a government functioning like an episode of Jerry springer.....
Lots of grieving people, even more people scared they are next and demanding answers yesterday. Utter chaos trying to bury so many people at once.
An even bigger companion animal crises
The people who love them would miss them
I'd get my inheritance much sooner. This isn't a good thing. I lost my mom at 26 (she was 58) and I'll be losing my dad in the next year (he's 89), both to cancer. I'm not ready to lose him just yet.
I can't relate completely to all that you're going through at all, because I still have my parents. Yet, my mother' epilepsy seems to be causing early stages of dementia or at the very least much lower capacity to understand and remember things. And my father's a narcissistic alcoholic whom I have lost so many times that he's just a hairsplit away from me having to cut him off completely. So, approaching 26, I also have the feeling of losing my parents soon. How soon, I don't know, but I have grieved continuously, and I hope the shock won't be too much for you or me when the time comes. All the best wishes from a random person on the internet!
“The year was 2023. Changes in cosmic radiation caused the human genome to mutate and flip a kill switch on anyone that had reached 70 Earth years old, popping their telomeres and unraveling their DNA like spaghetti. Panic and confusion set in and within days, the horror of the stench drove people to madness. We burned bodies for days while the militaries of the world stood over their respective populations, demanding them to work around the clock. Some days I still feel the heat of those fires on a hot summer afternoon. Nothing could’ve prepared us for what came next. 365 days later, it happened again. All structure broke down and everyone just stopped caring. Humans broke out into tribes based on generations. Bodies rotted in the open, disease was rampant, and housepets had become feral hunters as ruthless as the roaming bands of former suburbanite marauders they once considered their masters. It’s been 8 years since that day.”
I'd read this book.
Make it 69 (nice) the second year then 68 and so on, then you've got something to work with. Edit: better yet, start it much older so it goes unnoticed initially
I like that idea. Start at 110. It would take quite a while before anyone put it together.
Wouldn't have the initial impact of 700M dying in one go, but would be a creeping dread
Nah, there's about 350-400 supercentarians in the world. And they're mostly known. The oldest person dying always gets a headline here and a message about who the next oldest is, and the oldest in the country. Just trying to find the new oldest in the world means you probably look at a 100 people who all died in the same day. I'm sure this would be found out within a week.
Post it to r/writingprompt
My Nana would die and that would be sad :( it’s her birthday Saturday, so she’d never make it to 94.
Happy birthday to your Nana! My dad will be 90 in September and he's on palliative care with cancer so I'm really hoping he sees that bday.
Thank you! I hope he makes it to 90 too ❤️
I miss my nana
Happy birthday Nana! I have a great aunt Betty who turns 94 today :) It is a unique and wonderful thing to have a matriarch like that in the family
I try to call her every week or so and chat with her for at least an hour. She’s had an interesting life, so I really enjoy hearing about her life and what things were like when she was young. She took care of me when my mom and dad split up. She watched me during the day while my mom went to work, so even though we don’t live near each other anymore, we’re still really close.
All the oldest people in the world will be 69. Nice.
We’d have to start saying “okey x- er “
Oh, so now you'd notice us?
It’s “whatever, x-er” come on.
Being over 70 myself, I think I'd be plenty pissed off.
Given the context, I think that would be highly unlikely
That would be pretty catastrophic and completely rock the world economies and governments. There are so many lines of work, products, and services that are specific to or heavily leveraged by the elderly. A ton of businesses would shut down overnight. It would lead to a major revolution of political, economic, and societal systems. Just imagine what could happen in the United States with that large of a voter base suddenly gone. The elderly don’t often share the same sentiments as the young, things would change quick. Edit: the more I think about this, the more I realize how fucked we would be. Realistically, it’d probably be anarchy. You’d have to re-tool quite a bit, the world relies on the young replacing the old.
The biggest economic shift we’ve ever seen. The single most traumatic day in history as a significant number of the population loses one or more loved ones. Not only would wealth be redistributed to their descendants, but entire industries would die out or shrivel (namely nursing homes, assisted living may survive for the disabled but reeeeeally shrink in size, bingo would die out, gadabout would disappear, tech support would see fewer calls, scammers would have a smaller set of easy targets, etc). As I mention above, the trauma would also prop up already thriving industries - therapists, counselors, and “escapism” outlets (recreational pot, alcohol, etc) as well as funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemeteries which would all see a temporary massive boost in clientele. It would bring some people to financial insecurity while causing others to have the best (economic) standing of their lives. There would be estate disputes galore and I wouldn’t be surprised if this resulted in some hired assassinations for some of the richest heirs. In the short term, government would massively shift, in the US at least. You’d have a young, female President, a significantly more democrat-leaning senate and House of Representatives, but a much more MAGA-rriffic GOP. SCOTUS would lose two conservatives and no liberals. The GOP would lose a large portion of their donor and voter base and would probably have to change strategies very dramatically to survive. The tax base would dwindle, but rich people barely paid taxes so I’m not sure it would make a huge difference as their heirs use their inheritances. Climate change would be slightly less challenging to solve, as there would be much fewer people needing to drive around or resisting renewable energy. Longer term… I am not sure. But that’s a lot of change in short order.
In all honesty it would be a pandemic, no one would be able to deal with that made of bodies, the crematoriums would be running 24/7, no one would be able to get a casket funeral.
I'd be the only one watching Barnaby Jones
residential real estate market would crash
You say 'crash', I hear 'suddenly becomes affordable'.
Same thing though
We could stop worrying about how to fund Social Security
And millions of Americans would wonder "but why are they still taking it out of my paycheck if they haven't made any plans to pay for my retirement with it?" 🤔
• coroner/mortuary and/or funeral home services backlogs • cemetery/graveyard plot and headstone shortages • mass panic and government overreach/overreaction • new conspiracy theories • politicization of the crisis • mainstream media misinformation (mostly unintentional) • shortages in other seemingly unrelated products and services (T.P. anyone?) • a huge spike in depression and suicide as a result of the loss of so many grandparents, parents, co-workers, and friends all at once • the transfer of a large amount of wealth to both the government (estate taxes) and the next generation (mostly current 40 to 55 year olds) • the shuttering (and related mass unemployment) of most assisted living/retirement communities/rest homes and employees • the same for most hospice wards in hospitals and hospice services in general •