I spent approximately thirty hours volunteering at the Martin Luther Campus, during which I was able to take part in many experiences that were foreign to me. Through participant observations, I was able to interview residents and extract information that I otherwise would not have been able to obtain if I had used a “fly on the wall” approach. There were many things I witnessed and experienced firsthand that made me very uncomfortable. Whether they were “bad” or “good is irrelevant, as I found that the things that made me the most uncomfortable tended to be the most relevant to this class. By keeping track of my experiences in my journals, I was able to revisit my experiences once I gained a more objective view. This helped me interpret my experiences as an anthropologist, rather than as an anxious 19-year-old. There were some isolated experiences that impacted me, but there were also subtle trends that I began to notice over time. For example, I noticed trends in how healthcare providers treated residents. The conclusions and questions I formulated about the topic were just as important, if not more so, than the memorable interactions with the residents. A common theme I saw on the Martin Luther Campus was loneliness. It was often extremely lonely. I remember a particular moment when I was taking an elderly woman named Agnes back to her room from the ice cream party they hold every Thursday. Once we entered her room, I asked her if she was okay and if she needed anything. She replied “How can I feel good? All I do is sit in this room all day. Nobody comes to visit me. All that's left to do is sleep and watch TV." Then, some time later, she asked me to open the window shutters, because she liked watching the birds... middle of paper... the kind of care given to the guests was adequate, and I began to think again that it was necessarily bad for the residents. While there is no black and white answer to these topics and questions, I personally believe that every human being should be treated with the respect they deserve, and in the case of the elderly, I imagine it would increase their self-esteem and perhaps make their lives more happy. We Americans must examine other cultures to evaluate how we treat the elderly. Vedic culture teaches us to venerate the elderly, and many other cultures, both past and present, have given due respect to the older part of their populations (normally, human dignity and respect for the elderly). I believe it is time that modern Western cultures examine their views on older adults and whether they are actually beneficial to their societies.