A Twitter photo posted several days ago of a Toronto police officer assisting an elderly man with tying his shoes has quickly gone viral. Here is the twitter post by marketer / social media strategist Jason Cassidy who observed the event and took the picture:
A @torontopolice officer tying the shoe of a sick, elderly man on the street today. Very touching. twitter.com/JasonCassidy23…It's wonderful touching moment of altruistic behaviour that was well captured and both Officer Mark Borsboom, the duty officer in the picture and Jason Cassidy, who shared this with the world, should be praised for their actions.
— Jason Cassidy (@JasonCassidy23) May 28, 2013
Given the nature of our blog, this might be a piece of media I feel perhaps needs a conversation regarding the language of the tweet, specifically the use of the word "sick". It is not intended to be a criticism of anyone involved and is meant to discuss some of the possible underlying cultural views and etiquette we hold on the elderly. According to the National Post article containing an interview of Cassidy, the elderly man was walking with a breathing apparatus and cane. Therefore, this matches to at least more than one definition of "sick" and justifies its use in the description.
What is interesting to note is that while many retweets or reposts of the video contained the same description as the original tweet, there are many others, including both the National Post and Yahoo! News Canada, that omitted only the word "sick" when captioning the photo. It is a minor omission and most would consider this creating a discussion over nothing. However, could it also be that we consider any elderly person - or anyone for that matter - who require aids in order to function properly as unwell? Conversely, do we try to avoid labelling any elderly person as sick despite meeting the definition because of societal etiquette and to avoid generating criticism and controversy?
Interesting how we view those unable to perform simple tasks, such as tying their shoes as sick. Most people associate the word sick with seniors without really considering what the word means and the effect it could have on an individual. It is difficult to change the way people portray others when their minds are set on how they view those that are different from them. The media plays a huge role on how seniors are depicted in society, maybe the change should start with the media by watching what they put out there for people to see. Yet again they are corporations trying to make money at the expense of our elders.
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