I’m 78 and therefore one of the elderly. I have had a wonderful life, and though some of it was very painful, I’ve learned from every minute and every event of every day and am still doing so. I have nothing but gratitude for it all. I have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I live in chosen solitude and I feel loving and loved. Luckily I have a space to walk outside and am fit and well and have a happy disposition and I know that I’m very fortunate.
But what I share with other elderly people is that I have already lived most of my life – my sacred contract to be here and contribute in whatever way I could over this last 78 years. It’s not over yet, obviously, or I would have left by now, and I intend to carry out every bit of it diligently and make a difference until the day I leave. But you still have much of your sacred contract to fulfil. Unreservedly, I want you to be able to do that – fulfil your potential, have love and joy and beauty in your lives and strive to help others have that too. The people we must really look to protecting are the younger ones who will take over this world when we, the elderly have made our transition. I’m not suggesting that you should just dismiss or neglect the elderly. Not at all. It is part of the mission of every generation to eventually care for the one before. But as we have become a greater and greater number, we are, potentially, an onerous burden. And as resources diminish, we should be aiming to take more care of the young and the middle generation so that they will be able to cope and carry on when we, the elderly, have gone. We do indeed take up a lot of your resources. We do indeed take up a lot of your time and effort to care for us. The least we can do now is be as little trouble as possible and make sure that we do not pick up this disease, (which we might because our immune systems are not as good as yours) and then infect you or take up more than our share of health service resources. It’s important that we protect you from us. It’s not a great price to ask us to pay when we have had so much in our lives so far, and you still have needs for years to come. It is simply asking the elderly like me, to love enough to be selfless. No matter what we might want in terms of contact with our families, if we love them enough, we will protect them by being careful, staying at home. being apart from them and looking forward to them remaining healthy and strong enough to live their lives to the full and rebuild this amazing human family on this amazingly beautiful planet.
I’m not intending to go anywhere any time soon. But if the Divine has other ideas, then so be it. I will to the end protect my family – and that includes all of you – from me until it’s safe to do otherwise. Nor do I wish to take up a ventilator or hospital bed that could be used for someone younger. who may have young children to care for, or an elderly parent to look after. I want to protect their lives too and hope they will live it well and wisely.
Please look after YOU and live well, stay well, be safe and we will be too.
Much love
Brenda