Young people, adults and older adults feel alone. This was evidenced by the recent Bicentennial Survey of the Catholic University of Chile, with a series of alarming figures that construct a complicated panorama for the country: there is an epidemic of loneliness.
According to the document, Those who feel most alone are young people between 18 and 24 years old (22%) and adults over 55 years old (20%), while 19% of the population said they did not have a close friend.
In this context, a recent report from the newspaper El País showed the worrying story of an older adult in the Estación Central commune. Margarita Sanhueza, 73, lives alone on her property, in the shadow of her family with whom she hardly speaks: “They live close, but far from the heart.”
The story of an older adult who lives alone in Estación Central
Before she died, Margarita Sanhueza took care of her mother. At that time, she told him that her old age was very sad. “Now I find my mother completely right. “Old age is sad, but I try not to fall into that hole, although I know that there will come a time when one cannot control it,” he claimed.
He has a brother, four children and six grandchildren. But more than visiting her, they limit themselves to calling her. According to the story she gave to El País, The place where you go to “socialize” is the doctor’s office. The woman suffers from diabetes, hypertension and lumbar sciatica.
“Suddenly I say, ‘I’m going out…’ but where am I going?”
His routine is pretty simple: “I get up, I take my insulin, I walk around the apartment, I do what I have to do, I prepare lunch…” Then she knits and at 6 in the afternoon she goes to bed to endure the cold.
“My companion is the TV. I have it on all day. “I hear, at least, people talking.”
Consulted by the same medium, sociologist Eduardo Valenzuela, researcher of the Catholic University survey, assured that The results in the country are “worrying”: “It is assumed that a country, to the extent that it becomes better educated, improves its per capita income and living conditions, should also improve in coexistence, trust, and loyalty to institutions. That, however, did not happen.”
Furthermore, the expert pointed out that “No one talks about it. We (Chileans) have the false image as Latin countries of being extremely sociable and well established in the family, where one would not expect there to be much loneliness and, yet, there is.”
In this line, the older adult, Margarita said she was afraid that something would happen to her at home and she would find herself completely alone. But, on the other hand, he reported that his routine has also been affected by the insecurity that plagues the country. Her daughter—with whom she has the most contact—lives in Providencia, but she asked him not to go see her anymore for fear of being slammed.
On the other hand, he said that He had to change his medical office because street vendors took over the entrance sidewalk and “were fighting with knives in broad daylight.”
