I Remembered Lately

     I always feel sorry when I see senior citizens on the streets selling different items or begging for their living.  I always wish to help them…  I could not imagine my parents being like that.

              I interviewed elders about why they still need to work at their ages.  Some said they do not have any choices; they still have their workless sons and daughter and their grandchildren living with them.  And some, (This one broke my heart) have to work (to beg) because their relatives abandoned them.

      I can’t look at them when they moan asking me for some food or money.  I feel guilty for not doing anything when they walk on the streets under the heat of the sun, hungry, crying, and helpless... If only I have the capacity to make a change.

             Then a reaction: “How about in other places? They let their parents go to the nursing homes.”  Of course it’s in other places, where the government is firm enough to spend funds for them.  Here, knowing that we hold Filipino values, and knowing that the government doesn’t have the guts to improve this situation, we should take the initiative to address this.  It starts within us.  I still believe that in the coming future, no senior citizens will ever beg on the streets.

     This is without prejudice to the ways of our government helps them but, it is as if they are still blind to see the real image.  They are overwhelmed in the goodness of what they have done to others but refuse to accept the reality that they forget many of these people; these people who really need there sympathy.

     My friends, we should not forget the ones who first taught us how to dream, how to love, and how to appreciate the beauty on everything in this world.