In a world where we celebrate youth and vigor and everything is digital, to be old is considered a burden and to be ignorant about Facebook and Twitter is considered a defect.
If you feel irritated by your parents ignorance or slowness in the use of techie gadgets, there’s a touching video in You Tube, about a Greek father and son and a sparrow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWJq1SvgWQ0 ).
It shows a young man and an old man sitting on a bench. The son is reading a newspaper while the father is curious about a sound coming from a nearby bush.
The father asks what is it and the son replies, “A sparrow.”
The father doesn’t comprehend immediately and asks a few more times about it. The son finds it irritating and snaps at the father, “I’ve told you several times it’s a sparrow. Can’t you get it?”
The father stands up, goes inside the house and returns with a book, his diary.
He opens the diary and asks the son to read an entry aloud. The son reads: “Today my youngest son who turned three a few days ago was sitting with me at the park when a sparrow sat in front of us.
“My son asked me 21 times what it was and I answered 21 times that it was a sparrow. I hugged him every time he asked me the same question again and again without getting mad, feeling affection for my innocent little boy.”
The son, remorseful, hugs the father.
Alzheimer’s disease, is a curse of old age (although it can occur in middle age). I came upon this poem by Owen Darnell: A request by one afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a plea.
Do not ask me to remember
Don’t try to make me understand
Let me rest and know you’re with me
Kiss my check and hold my hand.
I’m confused beyond your concept
I am sad and sick and lost
All I know is that I need you
To be with me at all costs.
Please do not lose your patience with me
Do not scold me or curse or cry
I can’t help the way I’m acting
I can’t be different though I try.
Just remember that I need you
And the best of me is gone
Please don’t fail to stand beside me
And love me till my life is done.
Touching.