Taking a Peek at the Future

Have you ever thought about death?

Don’t get scared with my question.

It’s just that it is the surest thing about our future.

 It is so hard to take a peek at the future because we are so caught up in the present. We think that we will never get old. We think that we will always be as strong as we are now. Some even think that they will never die.

What does it feel when we are nearing our death? When we are nearing the age when our parents or grandparents died?

I invite you therefore to join me to take a peek at our future. What will we be 20 years from now? 30 years? Or  50 years from now? Will we be like the groovy lola Nanay Dionisia? Or like the vendors in the street of EDSA? Or like the elderly we visited in the Home for the aged in Pasay?

This morning, we were privileged to visit the elderly in the Little Sisters of the Poor San Lorenzo Ruiz Home in Pasay. I joined the outreach simply because I was curious about what brought the elderly in that place. I only wanted to be aware of what is happening in my society, and of course, I wanted to look at how my future can look like.

There were 44 abandoned elderly living there. Each of them has their own story. Each of them had different circumstances when they were younger but they ended up in one place. Some of them were abandoned and neglected. Some of them were picked up near the shores of Manila Bay living everywhere. Some lucky ones just chose to stay there because they had no family.

An elderly tending the plants in the Little Sisters of the Poor San Lorenzo Ruiz Home, Pasay.

An elderly proves that he can still sing and be entertaining

Groovy Grandpa sings Pitong Gatang

One particular elderly caught my attention. She was so quiet in her wheelchair. My friend Sonia said she doesn’t talk so much so I just approached her and sat beside her. I caressed her back. She looked at me, smiled and then she looked down again, like she was sleeping. So I just sat there beside her. Gosh, I even was not able to get her name. Let’s just call her Lola Patti. Then I engaged in a conversation with an elderly beside her. While we were talking, Lola Patti gave me a sign that she wanted to go to the restroom. When I tried to help her, it seemed she didn’t want to be helped. But then she kept on looking at me. So I pushed her wheelchair to the restroom. Surprisingly, she was receptive to the help. I pushed her inside the restroom. She could not carry herself so I carried her to the toilet bowl. At that point, I smelled something different. It was disgusting that I was tempted to go out of the room. But I came to my senses and got ashamed of myself. What was I thinking? When she finished her thing, I again helped her get back to her wheelchair. Then she looked up at me and smiled. It was the sweetest smile I have ever seen in my whole life. It was a smile of gratitude, a smile that showed how much she appreciated the affection and the love that I showed her. It was a smile that can melt one’s heart. I smiled back at her and pushed her back to the dining room.

While I type, I can still smell Lola Patti’s odor that lingered in my clothes and in my skin. But I am not disgusted anymore. In fact, I think that it is the sweetest smell ever. It is that smell that showed my future. Perhaps, when I am as old as Lola Patti, when I cannot take care of myself anymore, when I  cannot take a bath, when I cannot put lotion on my skin or put perfume on my clothes, I will smell like soil. Then, when that time comes, I would also appreciate anyone who would not show disgust to me, accept me despite my condition and love me unconditionally.

Is there any Lola Patti in your life right now? Show affection to them. Sure, it will make them happy. But I believe that it will make you even happier.