Senator John King delivered a stinging critique of modern societal values during the debate on the Protection of Older Persons Bill, arguing that the necessity of such a law is a tragic reflection of a “breakdown” in the Barbadian village spirit.
Senator King warned that legislation alone cannot force people to be decent. He opened his speech on the bill by questioning why a legal framework is required to mandate basic human compassion. He noted that caring for the elderly—those on whose backs “we have established the lives that we live today”—should be an innate behaviour rather than a statutory requirement.
He said: ”The mere fact that we have to pass legislation to ensure that persons in caregiving institutions, that persons within their homes, have to follow these particular guidelines to do that which as human beings should be automatic… this should be a serious concern to every single one of us.”
In a pointed moment, Senator King recounted an anecdote from his time working on cruise ships, where a passenger mistakenly referred to Barbadians as “barbarians”. While he laughed at the time, he suggested that the current wave of elder abuse — including reports of robberies and beatings of seniors — makes the term feel uncomfortably accurate.
”Can we safely say that we are Barbadians? Or are we ‘barbarians’? Because we’ve fallen to a level of behavior that borders on the term barbarism. I wish I lived in a society that I didn’t have to do this at all… that I would not have to come into a Senate to debate this bill at all.”
While Senator King praised the government for taking action, he was candid about the limits of the gavel and the pen. He stressed that behavior modification must begin in the home and the classroom, rather than the courtroom.
”Legislation, regardless of how well it is written, regardless of how much penalties that it has, it cannot and will never be able to change behavior when the behavior becomes almost normalised. There has to be an educational aspect… and it has to start in the primary schools.”
Senator King also addressed a specific, often-ridiculed form of elder abuse: the financial and emotional exploitation of older men. He urged society to stop treating these incidents as fodder for comedy and recognise them as a serious violation of rights.
”We old men are being robbed left, right and center, morning, noon and night. And the interesting thing about it is that when these things happen… it’s a joke. People laugh… but nobody tags it as abuse. It is not a joke. We have to pay the same attention to it when it’s happening to older men who may be seeking love or companionship.”
Directing his focus on young people, the government senator challenged them to view the elderly as “reservoirs of memory” rather than burdens, reminding them that the quality of life they preserve today is the one they will inherit tomorrow.
”Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself: Do I treat my grandmother or my aunts and uncles… as a burden? Because once you begin to see them as a burden, everything shifts. The approach to them shifts. How do you feel that after coming to Parliament to create and pass legislation that asks you to be human? Because at the core of it, that’s what we’re talking about: to be human.”
(RR)
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