I remember we commemorate one week in the month of October as Elderly Week. Also I recall posing this question: Is there really a need for it? I emphasized that caring for the elderly must be 24 hours in 365 days. Somebody thought of some days for them maybe just for emphasis so the young of our society may focus on the role of senior citizens in our lives.
When I was councilor, I was invited by my friend Gloria Salas Tanhueco, then head of the Office of the Senior Citizens ( OSCA) of the Angeles City government as one of the speakers in a ball and fellowship meeting of the elderly of Barangay Sto. Domingo. So inspired I extemporaneously delivered a good one upon seeing many of my long time friends and ka-barangay still sporting big smiles though many of them were gray haired and some lost all of it. I joked, they laughed. I told a sad story, some difficult chapters in my life and they were infected because they can relate.
This some years ago. I remember one Thursday breakfast meeting with newsmen at Annabels restaurant at Tomas Morato in Quezon City and the late Felipe Cruz, more popularly known as FF said, ' Siyanga pala sa Sabado birthday ko, imbitado kayo lahat'. ( On Saturday it is my birthday, you are all invited). So curious, I asked: Tay ilang taon ka na sa Sabado? ( How old would you be in Saturday). Sporting a wide smile, 92 pa lang, he answered. ( I am 92 years old ONLY). That tells a lot on attitude. As we often hear, age is only a number. Your attitude will define you.
I often tell audiences whenever I address assemblies of senior citizens that there are thousand centenarians in the United States who were interviewed what could be the secret of their long lives, and the answers were not the stereotype ones, like I sleep early, I don't eat meat, I don't smoke etc. etc.The common denominator of all the answers on the survey was attitude. One old lady even wrote on the answer column of the questionaire: 'I don't lie, and I am like the Miller of the Dee, I envy nobody, and I don't care about people who envies me'.
Isang tao na todo hanga ko sa kaniya ay si Senador Manny Pacquiao. I remember reading sometime ago the Lifestyle section of a newpaper. It featured the love story of Aling Dionesia, mother of the boxing champ. Mommy D, as she is referred, was in her sixties and her boy friend Michael Yamson, a seaman from Iloilo was in his late thirties. Love bloomed between the two, and Manny was all support because he love his mother that much and wanted her to be happy. How many kids are like treating their mothers in that fashion.
This is a line from the movie Splendor in the Grass: 'And tho nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, the glory in thy flower, we should frieve not, rather find strenght in what remains behind'.
TWEETS: The month of October for Angeles City is full of activities. Be ready for the Tigtigan, Terakan King Dalan which coincides with Pyestang Apo, last Thursday and Friday… The Poraquenos are indeed very proud that their cabalen, Department of Public Works and Highway Secretary Vince Dizon is making waves and deadset in sending to prison the corrupt personnel of the department.