I HAD the pleasure of meeting my visiting cousin Josette and her husband in a hotel yesterday. Having worked in London for two decades, they seemed like strangers in Iloilo City. She asked for a new site I could take them to.
“Hmmmm…Walk…” I hesitated, totally forgetting the place I had in mind. I paused for what seemed like an endless minute. “Walk…Wait. Isip isip… It’s Festive Walk.”
“Senior moments,” I explained my forgetfulness, only to later on confess that if there’s one prayer I would often verbalize, it’s to ask God to save me from Mr. Alzheimer.
“I believe you,” Josette agreed, obviously because she had turned senior, too.
Our conversation segued to other diseases that usually afflict the young once and remind us of a Bible verse: “Our days may come to seventy years or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).
There could be no adventure without traversing the path from womb to tomb. In fact, the young ones beg of us young once to tell them what adventures we have lived through.
One of the blessings that only we senior citizens enjoy is the privilege of paying 20 percent less for many things, especially food and medicines, with no value added tax.
Today’s reader may no longer find a restaurant serving a 50-peso value meal. But there was a time not so long ago when I entered a fast-food restaurant to eat breakfast consisting of pandesal with hamburger and egg plus coffee worth P52. Not bad, even better because of my senior citizen’s ID; I paid only P36.40.
On the other hand, I would rather not get sick than buy discounted “maintenance” medicines. Ask those on “maintenance” and they will tell you that despite their discount privilege, they save no money for pleasurable options – say, travel and entertainment.
Old people need not be discarded. Like vintage wine, the old sage may even be preferable to the young.
“Immortal” Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates were unanimous in believing that old age and new knowledge could go together. Socrates (469-399 BC) kept himself busy and could have lived longer had he not been poisoned at age 70. Plato (428-347 BC) never stopped learning and imparting philosophy till he passed away at age 80. Aristotle (384-322 BC) taught his students that “learning is an activity in which we can engage as fully in old age as when we were young.” Unfortunately, he met his unexpected end at 63 due to stomach ailment.
It surprised me to learn that “old” is an old word with a “young” undertone, derived from an Indo-European root that means “to nourish.” No wonder even an infant could be one-month “old”.
Unfortunately, when contrasted to “new,” “fresh,” or “young,” the “old” narrows its meaning to “stale,” “worn” and “dying.”
It is often only in old age that we cherish the memories of our youth. We love to look at our old pictures and reminisce and share with the young the memories of the “good old days when we were young.”
And yet an adventurous life does not cease on hitting 65, the presumed retirement age. Take for example the most famous American whose picture appears on all US $100 bills. Benjamin Franklin was already 81 in 1787 when he was elected to the Constitutional Convention that would frame the Constitution of the newly-created United States of America.
Inspired by that, this 68-year-young journalist refuses to retire; there is “forever” in writing, which could prevent Alzheimer’s disease. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
