KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY

ENGT 102
ASSIGNMENTS IV & V

SUBMITTED BY: ​Bikalpa Chaulagain

Faculty: ​ME01(design and manufacturing)
Roll No: ​02

SUBMITTED TO​: Harish Adhikari

**First part**
References

Arnold, S. (2018, April 18). Do it in a Flash: an Essay on the History and Definition of Flash

Fiction. ​TSS Publishing​. Retrieved from

https://theshortstory.co.uk/do-it-in-a-flash-an-essay-on-the-history-and-definition-of-flash-fic

tion-by-sandra-arnold/

Cousin G. (2016) Reflectivility: The new reflective practice. ​International Journal of

Practice-Based Learning in Health and Social Care​, ​1​(2), 3-7. Retrieved from

https://publications.coventry.ac.uk/index.php/pblh/article/view/272​/

Kort, A. (2017, April 4). J.R.R Tolkien’s Love for his Wife Inspired ‘​The Lord of the Rings’.​

Newsweek Special Edition​. Retrieved from

https://www.newsweek.com/laying-foundations-jrr-tolkiens-early-influence-563481

Macaulay, T. B. (1835, February 2). Macaulay’s Minute on Education. ​IIT Kanpur​. Retrieved

from ​http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hcverma/Article/Macaulay-Minutes.pdf

Mambrol, N. (2016, March 21). Claude Levi Strauss’s Concept of Bricolage. ​Literariness​.

Retrieved from ​https://literariness.org/2016/03/21/claude-levi-strauss-concept-of-bricolage/

**second part**

Old age should not be a curse

Getting old is inevitable. Every living organism created in this universe gets old with the passage of
time. Everyday you are one day older than you were yesterday, every second you get one second
older.Time only flows towards your death and beyond, you cannot go back; this is simply how our
universe works. With different life forms having different life expectancies, our human culture
considers old age or the old stage of our life to be after 60 or 65 years although the perception of old
age changes as we grow older.

Getting old is something we try to deny. It can clearly be seen in the modern times with a world full of
anti-aging products, hair colors and surgeries that makes you look prettier and younger. We perceive
old age as a curse because we get wrinkly, our hair turns gray, it is suddenly difficult to perform tasks
we took for granted and the scary fact that we will die.what we forget to perceive is the wisdom, the
joy of getting old, seeing people you brought to life grow and the sense savoury and accomplishment
in life.There are difficulties in every part of our life, like the inability to perform simple motor tasks,
complex reasoning and social interaction in our childhood, low self control over our emotions in
adolescence, the stress and social competition in our mid-life and much more. According to a
satisfaction survey, Adulthood is the most stressful period of our life.They refer to it as ‘The U curve
of happiness’ which shows that happiness in our life decreases as we grow towards adulthood and
again starts to increase as we grow old, plotting a ‘U’ shape in the graph.

Seeing old people as a burden is a big problem in our society. We see old people as reliant,
continually needing assistance and backing in their regular day to day existences and unequipped for
settling on choices for themselves. But in reality, just a little extent of old individuals are sick and
dependent; the dominant part lives sound and autonomous lives.Old people should rather be
considered as a resource.Being old means maturing, the older you get better you have control over
your emotions which ultimately becomes very important not only in strategic works but in many
occurences of our life. The wisdom of grandparents was very important for prehistoric men as there
were no books or other resources to be learned from.Ideas, tools and strategies were to be passed to
their offspring and living to an old age ment more information flow in the hierarchy. According to
various P​ aleoanthropology ​studies, living to an older age had an immense effect on the population
growth of the tribe, social interactions and genetics of early humans.

Different cultures that people are living in also have an effect on where eldery people end up.In
eastern countries including Nepal, cultural conformity and family bonds are very strong and deeply
rooted in the community.while in ​Western culture, this is regarded as interference and an infringement
of personal space of nuclear families. This might be the reason why western people grow up to be
independent and leave their parents early but in eastern countries we tend to live with our family and
stick with them.This cultural difference leads to different lifestyles of the elderly. Majority of elderly
live in their home with their childrens and grandchildrens in asian countries while in the west, most of
them can be found living in institutions.being from asian culture, i don't consider this western culture
the as “wrong act” of “disrespect” because of the difference in our cultural ideology. wherever they
live it doesn't matter if they are happy about it. Most of the western elderly voluntarily go to old age
homes with their own savings of their entire life just because they don't want to be a burden to their
children.This shows the degree of respect for the personal space.
We get old because we have a life and having a life that has one in 400 trillion chances is itself an
amazing blessing. In this uncertain life being old should not be thought of as a curse but a time to
appreciate life without worrying about some social competition and sharing love and wisdom with
young ones. Death is something we cannot avoid so it's better to not worry about it and move on with
life.Thinking of elderly as an asset and respecting them is a great way of making our community
better.With care and love of the close ones and the planning about future from an appropriate age; old
age should not be a curse.
 References

​ etrieved from
Kennedy, s. (2001, May 30). Elderly a resource, not a burden. ​The iris Times. R

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/elderly-a-resource-not-a-burden-1.310522

Henderson, M. (n.d.). The Paradox of Aging: the Happiness U-Curve. ​Margit Cox Henderson, Ph.D.

Retrieved from ​https://www.margithenderson.com/the-paradox-of-aging-the-happiness-u-curve/

Ertzeid, H. (2019, september 12). Old Age and Happiness: Some Common Misconceptions. ​Oslomet.

Retrieved from

https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/featured-research/five-misconceptions-about-old-age-happiness

McKie, R. (2011, july 24). Wisdom of grandparents helped raise of prehistoric man. ​The observer.

Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/jul/24/prehistoric-man-helped-as-elderly-survived

Becker, E. (2013, November 25). Growing Older Is A Gift, Not A Curse. ​RELEVANT. ​Retrieved from

https://www.relevantmagazine.com/life5/growing-older-gift-not-curse/