This story really tugged at my emotions while I went through something similar with my father so I wanted to share with others.
All credit due to: https://herotips.org/2016/01/he-died-alone-in-a-nursing-home-nurses-thought-he-had-nothing-of-value-until-they-saw-this/
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Nursing homes contain an enormous amount of senior citizens who are all but anonymous.
As their memory fades and their functionality diminishes, so do the relationships they have with family. What used to be a visit here or there, is now just a phone call to the facility asking how they are. On top of that, the staff at these facilities can become so busy with their daily duties that they really don’t get a chance to get to know the seniors and establish any sort of deep relationships with them. It’s a very sad situation.
When Mak Filiser died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home, the nurses believed that he left nothing behind of any real value.
It came time to clean out Mak’s room after he passed on. One of the nurses then noticed something. It was a poem that Mak had written. She proceeded to read it and was so floored by his words that she ended up making copies of it and sharing with every employee at the nursing home.
The poem is entitled, “Cranky Old Man” and it no doubt taught the staff some very valuable lessons and goes something like this…
Cranky Old Man by Mak Filiser
What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking…when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man…not very wise,
Uncertain of habit…with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food…and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice…I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice…the things that you do.
And forever is losing…A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not…lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding…The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse…you’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding…as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten…with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters…who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen…with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now…a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty…my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows…that I promised to keep
At Twenty-Five, now…I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide…And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty…My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other…With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons…have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me…to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more…Babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children…My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me…My wife is now dead.
I look at the future…I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing…young of their own.
And I think of the years…And the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man…and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age…look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles…grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone…where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young man still dwells,
And now and again…my battered heart swells
I remember the joys…I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living…life over again.
I think of the years, all too few…gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact…that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people…open and see.
Not a cranky old man.
Look closer…see…ME!!
Existing Internet Infrastructure
Content Creation
Users
Emerging Cloud Applications & ServicesHopefully I’ve done a decent job of demystifying the “cloud” and broken it down into it’s core components in a easy to understand way in this quick cloud overview. Now I would like to briefly elaborate on the opportunity of document capture for Emerging Cloud Applications & Services. In essence, everything described above was logical, had structure and most people are familiar with how to use. Internet applications and services such as e-mail, browsers and social networking sites all make sense and are easily understood. What is not easily understood or defined by most is how to implement an effective a cloud strategy. I can appreciate this struggle because the cloud is new, emerging and dynamic. What a cloud application might be today can be drastically different in just weeks for sophisticated integration/functionality or literally minutes for simple expansion or additional functionality. This is because adding new functionality or capability to an open cloud platform is far easier than in the in the past using standard communication protocols as were described above in the HTTP example. Most cloud applications utilize HTTP, Web Services, XML, SOAP, REST and other common standards to reduce development time, decrease costs and eliminate unnecessary complication.Cloud applications and services are developing quickly and will become exponentially powerful as different technologies are collaborated. As more and more organizations rely on the cloud to reduce on-premise IT infrastructure there will still be a need for scanning hardware to digitize documents into the cloud. Therefore, the near term future for document capture and scanning into cloud applications is extremely bright.If I was vague about what a “cloud application” is and you are looking for a definition, well, I would suggest there are many opinions that can be found with a simple internet search. I, however, once read an article about how an industry expert was asked to define “the cloud”. After he pondered the question for a bit he finally came to the most appropriate definition he could think of and it was just one powerful word; Innovation.
