The Law of Life - Jack London                                

 

 

                 As Koskoosh sits alone by the fire, he is transported to an event in his youth where he observes an old moose stalked, worn down, and killed by a pack of wolves.  The moose is aged and slow; he has been left behind by the herd.  Still,  the moose struggles valiantly to escape his killers.  Although no longer youthful and spry, the beast values what he has left and wants to continue on. 

                 Koskoosh is left behind in a similar fashion by his tribe.  As he ponders his past  and hedges away his unpromising future, death beckons.   “the familiar, long-drawn howl broke the void, and it was close at hand.”  The fate of the old moose reflects his own fate as Koskoosh tries unsuccessfully to fight the pack, recognizes the futility  of resistance and surrenders to the inevitable. 

                 “Was it not the law of life?”

                  As people age in our culture, they frequently become more weak and dependent, less able to produce and are less valued, less respected.  They may be looked upon as burdens.  Dumped in nursing homes, rehab or VA hospitals, or sometimes their own homes, they wait by the phone, hoping for the visit, the attention-longing for the bone. 

                  Offspring may argue over who will shoulder the burden of the hapless elder.  They may calculate dispassionately the value in dollars and cents of the elderly one’s estate, and bemoan the dwindling total as the years drag on.

                   I really don’t think things have changed so much since the abandonment of elderly Koskoosh Jack London writes about in this essay, “The Law of Life.”  Old Americans are routinely abandoned in varied institutions, devalued as their ability to produce and  remain independent disappears.  Is our way of dealing with our elderly more humane than the way of Koskoosh’s tribe?  Not necessarily.

                   I believe that people should take better care of themselves, plan ahead, save money and make arrangements for that day in the future when they can no longer care for themselves.  Whether a loaded gun is set aside or reserved space in an assisted living facility would depend on the individual’s finances and how digilently they have prepared for the inevitable.

                   Bette Davis said, “Growing old ain’t for sissies.”  Whoever isn’t up for the challenge - consider the alternative.