FieryOpal
Posts: 2821
Joined: 12/8/2013 From: Maryland Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: TheCabal I can't imagine keeping someone isolated in a cell 24/7 for any length of time. People simply need human contact. I recently lost a long-term live-in to cancer. She went almost 5 years not leaving my home except to see her doctors... to be clear, this is something she chose for herself, not something I wanted for her. She had full access to the internet, and telephone, she even kept up her drivers license and had access to a vehicle. I tried very hard to get her out of the house. Just that alone - a comfortable room, a warm house, with access to the outside world waiting and available for the asking took quite a toll on her without having to actually put her in a cell. My biggest regret is that I wish I had been more successful getting her out. Her illness, and all of the complications that went with it, made leaving home very complicated and unpleasant. After a while, her bedroom became the most comfortable place in the world for her. Going anywhere in the car started to become frightening to her... and uncomfortable for her (and it's an older Lincoln Towncar, so it's not like it's an uncomfortable car). And yes, what LockheedMartin says above is also true - I found myself having to do all the grocery shopping and running all the other errands one needs to run to maintain someone who is utterly dependent... it is A LOT of work. So much so, that it ate into the time I might have spent with her to provide the companionship she really needed. The experience of having another human so completely dependent on me is an experience I will never forget, and I don't regret doing it... it taught me a great deal. After all, I know what it is to do this for years at a time. But I can't recommend it, and I hope I never have to do it again. And putting someone in a cell, completely isolating them from the world? For 24 hours so they can get a taste of it - sure. But not for more than maybe a week, tops... and only then for someone who knows what they're getting into. It's certainly not a sustainable way to live one's life. Long term, even moderate isolation changes the way you experience the world... profoundly... and in ways that will make the world seem utterly foreign to you if you have to re-enter it. My sincerest condolences on your recent loss. This is also not something I look forward to ever re-experiencing with a terminally ill loved one, on top of caring for my elderly mother, both of whom I had to lay to rest just 3 months apart. There are people who are housebound, stuck in a wheelchair and/or rehabilitative facility (such as a nursing home), or incarcerated, who would give their right arm to have freedom of mobility, independence, and their health restored. Privileged states of being which so many of us take for granted. Without your health, your have next to nothing. No amount of money will buy you quality time--it may afford you extended time, to prolong your suffering. Why anyone would want to throw away the liberty their predecessors struggled and fought so hard to ensure for their posterity, and seek to ruin their health - both physical and mental - with consensual captivity is beyond my comprehension.
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Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu There is no remedy for love but to love more. - Thoreau
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