So strong yet so fragile; or vice versa

By Emmanuelle

THIS month salutes the elderly among us. They who were once the new-born child, the pre-school, the elementary pupil and the high school student, the binatilyo and the dalagita, the binata and the dalaga, the proud groom and the blushing bride, the young married couple, the mother doing a child’s homework and the father always rushing off to work.

They were not born old, you know. They just grew old.

At 60 years and past, they would have seen all if not most of their children settled into married, familial or singular bliss. Or unbliss, and if disease or accident had not laid early claim, and if life had not beaten them yet to a pulp – they would be crossing-over gracefully to the world of the pensionado.

Into the federation of the senior citizens associations. Through which, a member gets to enjoy unimaginable benefits denied to the young and the rheumatic-free. And these would be in such simple pleasures as reduced bus, boat and plane fares, and discounted medicine and restaurant bills (though sometimes one has to be bitchy to insist).

Of course, let us not forget the delicious emotional rewards of being first generation of this batch. The second would be the children; the third would be the beloved mga apos.

To be the last word to settle an issue elevates one to the higher level of an arbiter or a sage, the wise old person of the house. Better still, to boom out the first word, and to quiet any ensuing protest with the mere power of a stare is to ascend to the floating carpet of an oracle. Some Filipino families do retain the ghost of the patriarchal or matriarchal societies of the pre-American times. The bones may be weak, the muscles may be flaccid; but the will has not been written and the lands are still not in the children’s name. So there.

Happy are those whose foresight had prepared them for any eventualities. They would have their savings, retirement pensions, investments (real estate, business or in kind to include pinaral na mga pamangkin o apo – kind nga e!) to cushion the bending of the spine in the ripe old age.

Sad are those whose farsightedness had been just as far as their noses. Their pagtatabi plans for their ageing tomorrows would only be twenty-four hours starting today. And sadder are those who saw the need naman to prepare for their old age, but this child is always hungry or needy though this child is past thirty, that child is often more sick than well, and so the spending and the paying never seem to end. Ang bulsa ay palagian na lang butas.

Reality starts then startles when the graying begins. By then, it is almost always too late.

Good, if the children were bred and raised and soaked on good old values. Like the best of dough and the best in wines. Indeed, the commandment Honor they father and they mother shall be done, in thoughts, in words, and in deeds to the father, the mother, the grandfather and the grandmother. To all the olds and the even older. Except, of course, for the occasional lapses in patience; but these are understandable slips from grace. Hay naku, ang kukulit naman talaga ni lolo, ni lola!

Not all stays true to the order though. Don’t you know that out of the 88.57 million total population of the Philippines (based on the 2007 POPCEN), 6% or roughly 5.3 million are the saddest and the most impoverished? And a large number of these are the poor, the neglected or the abandoned, and the unmedicated elderly? And we used to be one of the Asian nations (together with the Chinese, the Japanese) who were described as magalang at mapagmahal sa nakatatanda. We not only loved, cared, respected our elders. We revered them.

Theme for the month – ang nakatatanda: huwaran at yaman ng bansa. The elderly are the models and the treasures of this nation.

Let us then treat them so. Here, I would have loved to mention the name of the legislator whose bill penalizes a grown child for abandoning a parent. And that was filed a long time before the person began aiming for the presidency in 2010. Soon, I will print the name in big revered letters.

But only for that bill. Only for THAT bill.

(Readers may reach columnist at jingmil@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/feelings/
For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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