The Gray Hair of Our Elders

There are people who do not appreciate enough the immense value of our elderly. Fortunately, in Venezuela this has not become as common as in other “first world” countries. We have to be vigilant in each of our families so that disregard for, or abandonment of, the elderly never becomes a habit in our homes.

Here we still see the great majority of our “old folks” accompanied by their children or grandchildren, who look after them and help them get the food or medicine they need; who go with them on the ordeal of doctors’ visits when they are ill; who sit with them to “invest time” over a little coffee with milk, or simply to give them some affection.

This past Holy Week you could see the “viejitos” in our churches at the services, praying with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They were truly beautiful images. Churches overflowing with people of all ages at all hours: lots of babies in strollers; children running, jumping or crying; young people; young couples and not-so-young couples; and our “viejitos,” as we affectionately call our elderly in our country.

Since the start of his pontificate, Pope Francis has repeated countless times that we must not neglect the elderly. Recently he said it is a mortal sin for children not to visit their parents.

Ever since I was a little girl I have felt great admiration and respect for older people. My relationship with my great-grandmothers and my grandparents was truly unique. I have wonderful memories of them that I will never forget. And I always saw my parents looking after their parents. Always! That is passed on from generation to generation. And that tradition must be kept in every home; it must not be lost!

We have to make the most of that wonderful gray hair, and of the great wisdom our elders have. I think of them as walking books. History books that tell it to you in the first person. Cookbooks with unique, unmatched recipes. Economics books, because they lived in a time when people were not so consumerist and did not waste so much. Not to mention the book of love and faith they carry inside, a unique treasure, the greatest!, which they pass on to their children and grandchildren.

It is very important that we make our elders feel how much they are worth, and how much they can still teach us, even with the aches and pains of age.

I am completely convinced that, as the Pope says, a society is developed to the extent that it treats its children and its elderly well.

Let us show the world that in Venezuela, although we are very far from being a “developed” country by economic, political or social measures, we are a “developed” country in our families, through the Love we show our elderly.

And let us always remember that we are all headed for old age, faster than we think, and that our children will care for us as we cared for our parents. May God bless all our elders!