Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Elderly
Becoming old is about loss. There is a certain poverty involved. We begin to lose things we used to have such as body parts, stamina and physical strength. I find many people who talk about "helping the poor" but never seem to include the elderly. Such helping people might have tried, to do something for the financially poor, hungry, homeless person, but care little to nothing for the elderly woman in the store, parking lot, roadway. Even elderly relatives are ignored. Write a letter? Pick up the telephone? Make a visit? That is just too much. There are a lot of organizations that will provide some basic services to an elderly person, but there are far fewer persons who can or will remind the elderly of their basic worth. We will lose stuff as we age, but we never lose a basic worth as a person. It is a gift to remind someone of this. Do you have that gift?
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Thank you Fr. Terry for reminding us that there is loss in getting older. We gain time but we lose so much of our abilities to spend that time. But before we get too old we should extend our hands to other older people. Jesus would want us to do that and with a smile!
ReplyDeleteHow to find the balance between help and patronizing?
ReplyDeleteI am in the process of being devalued. the lack of technology knowledge is really driving it. I wanted to let you know that one time you replied to me in a very gentle way. I realized how few times I have experienced gentleness and how powerful it was. Thanks !
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