Today something happened to me that I don't know if it's funny, offensive, natural or necessary. I traveled by bus, older adults are charged half fare, but the drivers do their best to select only two passengers, this time I could not enjoy the benefit, because when I arrived two older men had already arrived.
A woman started arguing because, according to her, they should charge her half the ticket, she was only 55 years old. The driver insisted that she had to be over 60 to receive the benefit, and that she still had no chance, but she added that she didn't look that age. This lady wanted to appear older by force just to see if she would be exonerated.
With my grandchildren's pet.
Then the young man, looking for arguments, sees me and tells me: "I cannot disrespect the lady by saying that she is not her age, she can tell that she is older but you are not."
I stayed calm, it was not my business, although she was being referred to, the woman left the topic at that and I began to think about everything that socially comes with being an older person.
Some people I know who see age as something terrifying would surely have refuted something to the young man, even considered it disrespectful. I think he felt overwhelmed by the woman's insistence and couldn't figure out how to resolve the situation and couldn't think of anything other than to say that.
One cannot be bothered by the obvious, although I do not feel or perceive myself to be very old, other people do notice it, some call me grandmother or the diminutive of doña.
A few years ago it bothered me to be called grandmother, I felt that this expression was exclusive to grandchildren. Over time I have realized that many people use it and carry with it a manifestation of affection that is never offensive.
It is good to have lived, fully, each stage of life: to have enjoyed childhood and have good memories of it; having experienced youth with the thoughtless and carefree period of it; having been a responsible adult, with all that this implies: commitments, work, among others, to be able to wisely assume the interesting stage of old age. Because it's really interesting, all the personal changes that we project to others and the way they assume us.
In my country, Venezuela, a product of the diaspora that has dragged many young people to seek better opportunities, has left a large number of older adults that we encounter anywhere.
This can be considered a problem if we take into account the number of limitations it faces, not only on an economic level, which is quite a lot, but also on a physical level. Many suffer from diseases that require permanent attention to know their evolution or improvement; in many cases they are chronic diseases which imply even greater expenses.
I believe that learning to accept this stage, appreciate how positive it is, recognize the contributions of wisdom that accompany us and that we usually transmit to our loved ones are more than enough reasons to assume a high esteem for ourselves. It's good to belong to this era.
My content is original
One own image and one from Pixabay.
I have used Google translator.
