Rational Insanity
By Bryan Mari J. Argos

Old hearts and sweet hearts

It's unfortunate that this column comes out every Tuesday, so, I am a day late in my Valentine feature, but hey, love is timeless; it goes beyond the borders of space and time, and appropriately, our topic for this week might just be a silent testament to this belief.

How many old folks have you encountered whose lives have been inevitably lonely because their loved one may have gone ahead of them?   My grandmother is one of those people.   Death can truly change someone who is left behind.   Those who are left behind have to contend with this cruel world that loves misery.   These old folks are the people we should be sharing Valentines Day with.   To hell with the traditional boy-girl, girl-girl, boy-boy Valentines, it's about time we learned to appreciate the things that we usually overlook.   Our old folks have been through a lot in their own time and the least we could do for them this Valentines is make them feel that this day is also their day as well as it is a day for those who are love.   We don't have to be in love to celebrate this day of hearts. All we need to have is someone to share our moments with; someone who could partake of the memories and special things that we cherish in life.   Since our old folks may not have this luxury anymore (of course some may still have their better halves with them at the moment, but just the same), who else can they turn to but us?   We are the people in their lives who have made their years as parents and grandparents worth living.

I can remember a friend of mine who has an almost centenarian grandmother, who still receives her meager SSS Pension.   The lady is a widow, and every time his grandmother received her pension, she always set aside three hundred pesos for her “apo” – her pension is only one thousand pesos.   Isn't this heart wrenching?   Is this not the classic example of unconditional love; the kind of love that should be the focus of everybody's Valentines?   Our elders may be wrinkled and sometimes unpleasant; they may even be obnoxious in their senility, but hey, are we not bound to be like them sometime in the future, wouldn't it be nice to have patient children and grandchildren around us when that time comes?   Wouldn't it be great to see our efforts of bringing up such wonderful people rewarded, although not monetarily, but with patience, sweetness, and an occasional chat every now and then?

Growing old is the loneliest phase of life.   We are so lucky to have been born in a country where old people are not thrown into nursing homes when they have outlived their strong and youthful bodies.   You see, even when the body grows older, and the heart becomes clotted with fat and cholesterol, feelings and emotions never change.   In fact, older people are more sensitive than the young ones because they have so many things to consider, and the biggest of which is the feeling that they have become useless because of their old age. On this premise, the best Valentines gift we could give our elders is to make them feel that they are wanted; that they still matter, that even though they have outgrown those nimble fingers and lithe steps, we are still there to hold their shaky old hands, and willingly and lovingly take them for a walk, notwithstanding the effort of having to walk alongside someone who cannot even take a step properly because of aching knees and joints.   Who cares?   It's about time we all focused on giving our elders something they so truly deserve.  

What is it that makes them deserving of this treatment?   Well, for one, they have silently and considerately dropped off the background through the many Valentines days when we were too pre-occupied with our special “someones” to even offer our parents and grandparents a Valentines kiss, and for many a Valentines Day, they had to shave off a few pesos from their pockets just so we could buy our dates a decent Valentines Day dinner, and a rose – remember the M.Y. San graham cracker commercial?   Well, that's a classic example of a parent getting out on a limb for our own selfish interests.   Why selfish?   Because it is our preoccupation with trying to find someone who will be with us in our old age that we forget that some people are already battling with that exact kind of misery in real time – our grandparents.

Now, it's not too late yet, it's just a day past, let's give our elders a Valentines Day they will never forget.   Love, anyway, recognizes no time in the giving.   Be a shining star to our elders, because remember, the older the heart, the sweeter it becomes.   Grow old graciously.   Love.

Be rational; be insane…every once in a while!   TTFN!

Happy, happy Valentines to my dear readers, Chan, Vic, Vincent, and Rex, Alex, Arvin, Corz, Jim, Kiara, Malikh, Mr. Pampolina, Audrae, Franz, Hendrick, Janice, Jay, Jim, Jonathan, Mark, Marz, Mel, Pres, Nhonoy, Niel, Piper, Rheavil, Joey, Alma, Rodolfo, Ecker, Ryan.   Happy Valentines to all of you!   I love you all! The same goes out to Mom, Dad, Lola, Arianne, Ken, Tita Li, Lola Pies, and to the rest of my family and friends, to Wambok, Dembot, Thea, and to all those I forgot to mention.   Byers! Salamat gid sa mga walang-hintong text and reactions nyo! Check us out at www.thenewstoday.info, text me at (0920)9254269, or email me at prague@eudoramail.com .