When Dementia Has a Seat at Your Holiday Table
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, FAMILIES ACROSS AMERICA WILL PLAY HOST TO A BRUTAL, UNINVITED GUEST—and watch in horror as it methodically devours the mind of a loved one right before their eyes. This is the shocking truth behind our cozy gatherings: we are no longer celebrating with our parents and grandparents, but performing macabre rituals for their empty, animated shells.
Forget sentimental tales of cherished memories. The reality is a psychological horror show, forcing children to become parents and spouses to become widows while their partner still breathes beside them. Experts are now SLAMMED for sugar-coating this crisis, calling it “sundowning” instead of what it truly is: a terrifying, daily erasure of a human soul. Caregivers are pushed to the brink of collapse, their own lives sacrificed on the altar of a cruel disease that society refuses to adequately fund or cure. WHY ARE WE ALLOWING THIS?
The implications are DEEPLY DISTURBING. We are normalizing a form of living death, gathering to feast and exchange gifts while a family member slowly vanishes at the table. These gatherings have become grotesque pantomimes of joy, masking an unspoken collective trauma. It exposes our societal failure, our cowardice in the face of an epidemic we lack the will to confront.
This holiday, as you pass the mashed potatoes, ask yourself one harrowing question: Are we honoring our loved ones, or are we merely spectators at their protracted public execution?
Edited for Kayitsi.com
Author: Kayitsi.com
