A Day for Our Elderly

Older people are too often forgotten. Not with cruelty, most of the time — with inattention. The quietest problems they face go unseen: a blood pressure nobody has checked in a year, a bag of medicines nobody has gone through with them, a question they were too polite to ask at the appointment.

They might be older, but the spirit remains young. That is his line, and it is the whole argument in one sentence. What a day for the elderly would honor is not frailty. It is a working life, a family raised, a community served — and a person still here, still worth listening to.

Veterans Day exists to honor service. A day for the elderly would do the same kind of thing for people who gave their working lives, raised families and served their communities, and who now sit alone with health problems nobody has checked. One day on the calendar, in the same spirit, is not a large request.

What such a day could actually mean in a community is simple and practical. Health professionals checking the basics. Nurses going through people’s medications with them, bottle by bottle. A real look at how someone is doing, not a rushed fifteen minutes. And honest information about options that might help them live better — said plainly, with time to ask.

We can learn a lot from the experience and wisdom of our elderly. That is the part that gets lost. A day set aside for them would not be a favor to people at the end of their lives. It would be an acknowledgement that there is something in that room worth having.