Dear Christine,
Christmas is upon us and some of us will remember those whom we lost this year.
There are also those who would have lost loved ones perhaps a year ago and the memories are still as dear today as they were this time last year.
I read some time back in The Nation that some relatives leave their senior family members at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and never return for them.
I have also been told that as a result of this, there is a shortage of hospital beds. This is simply disgusting. It is sad to know that we have people living in the hospital while their relatives draw their pension cheques and live off of them.
I also want our country to wake up to what is happening in other parts of the world, by sharing this letter with you. What I am writing about took place outside of Barbados, where I now reside, but it is still relevant for our society.
I live in a large apartment building where most of the tenants are upper middle class individuals.
The gentleman who lived across the hall from me was a widower whose wife had passed away about eight or nine years ago.
He had told me that he had many nieces, nephews and grandchildren, most of whom lived in his state, but he heard from them only when they sent postcards from their vacations in the Caribbean or Europe.
This lovely gentleman passed away three weeks ago, following a brief bout of pneumonia. I attended his funeral and was surprised to see so many people there. Also, the number of elaborate floral arrangements was unbelievable.
Christine, I felt like screaming at these people: “Where were you when this dear man sat alone in his apartment? He doesn’t need you now. The flowers are beautiful, but he can’t smell them!”
Christine, if each of those relatives had taken him to their home for one weekend, his life would have been brightened considerably, and his gratitude would have been boundless.
Please print this letter. It just might wake up a few people.
– Someone Who Cares
Dear Someone Who Cares,
Your letter touches my heart. It seems that many people do not realize seniors are people with hearts and that they crave for love, care and attention like any other human being.
They do not seem to realize that they hurt, and that spending time with them is like going
to an educational institution because there is so much we can learn from them.
They possess great wisdom, and having experienced the struggles and strains of life, the challenges and even the great wonders of life, they are in a better position to share with us.
I’ll also like to share the following poem which you also sent with our readers.
Maybe these lines will help us to come to grips with the fact that by taking time out to touch a life in some meaningful way, we are also touching their hearts.
I hope it will also speak on behalf of those lonely people out there who will perhaps shed many a tear during this Christmas season:
I would rather have a single rose
From the garden of a friend,
Than have the choicest flowers,
When my stay on Earth must end.
I would rather have the kindest words
Which may now be said to me,
Than be flattered when my heart is still
And this life has ceased to be.
I would rather have a loving smile
From the friends I know are true,
Than tears shed ’round my casket,
When this world I’ve bade adieu!
Bring me all your flowers,
Whether pink, or white or red
I’d rather have one blossom now
Than a truckload when I’m dead.
– CHRISTINE