Since I was a former Nursing student, I came across this term and started using it to refer to the elderly. But my fascination with the elderly started way back during High School, when we visited a Home for the Aged during a religious activity.
The facility was located near a hospital here in General Santos City. Prior the activity, I didn't know that it existed at all. When we went there, all I wanted was to get it over with. I wasn't really expecting anything unusual or emotionally moving since we would be there only for a short period of time. BOY WAS I WRONG.
When we arrived, there was a program already going on inside. The in-charge informed us that there was a group of students who were scheduled that day too, but they were a little behind schedule that's why they weren't finished with their program yet. So she encouraged us to just join their activity, since we didn't exactly have a program of our own anyway. And so we did.
When I took a peek inside what seemed to be their living room where the program was held, I saw that the 'geria' (shorter term for geriatric) were already on their feet, being ushered to the center of the room. Music was blaring from the stereo just beside whom I assumed the emcee, and suddenly the partners of each geria were starting to dance, encouraging the geria beside them to do so too. I was still enjoying the scene when suddenly the emcee saw me and started to pull my hand, towing me to the direction of the only geria left on the sofa. An elderly man, not wearing even an iota of a smile on his face. All the other geria were almost laughing out loud, enjoying the music and their dance, but he seemed to be unmoved. So I invited him to dance and reluctantly, he joined me.
While we were dancing, I tried to talk to him and fortunately, he cooperated. I learned that he was on the Home because his children already have families of their own and there was no one left to take care of him. While he was relaying this, the sadness on his eyes was almost tangible that he even had to look away when a shadow of a tear appeared.
The dance was over before we knew it. When it was time to go, there were three or four elderly women who cried and said bargained if we could stay longer, especially those in wheelchairs and couldn't walk. The sight was so moving I tried to think of other things except the sadness and loneliness they've been enduring all this time to keep the tears on my own eyes at bay.
Since then, I swore that I'd someday help a specific Home so that the geria would feel less lonely and sad. Because of that experience, my heart goes out to almost every geria I see.
Today, while in a bookstore, my private reading was cut short when I heard an elderly man's voice enter the bookstore and ask something I didn't quite catch to the guy at the counter. When I turned to have a better look, I smiled despite my bad mood. There standing on the doorway was an elderly couple, probably on their 70's, animatedly chatting with the guy at the counter.
This paparazzi shot was the best one I could take, since I was afraid someone might see me secretly taking a photo of the couple. Haha. I was even more amused when I observed that they were Ilonggo.
"BISAN ISA LANG KA BESTSELLER, AH." I heard the elderly man say to his presumable wife.
I was just fascinated with the couple. Moments later, a woman handed them a bag of food. "Balon namon? Salamat gid," said the elderly woman.
I just hope that young people would treat gerias better, not with evident impatience. Old age doesn't equate to uselessness. They can be a handful sometimes, but they deserve to be treated with patience. After all, they didn't grow impatient with us when all we could do is cry and throw tantrums not long ago.
MVJLO 05.27.12
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