The restaurant was empty (sign of the economic downtrend?), except for a white-haired, bent old lady in a wheel chair and a young man. They were midway through their meal. Grandma and grandson, I thought.
While surveying the array of food, I overheard the conversation between lola and apo. It wasn't much of a dialogue; it was more of a monologue.
The young man was very solicitous, “This is really good, try it.” “I am sure you'll enjoy this other dish, it's the restaurant's specialty.” “Taste it, they're, delicious, right?” “Have some more.” “Let me scoop some for you.”
What a fine, young man! I gushed silently, a hint of tears fogging my eyeglasses. To husband and first son I verbalized my thoughts, “I wish my own sons and grandson would be half as good to me when I am that old.”
Reply of husband: “He just wants to extract some money from the old woman.”
Reply of first son: “The old lady forced him to escort her here.”
Two pails of cold water doused my spirit.
I am sure that if there were one other person with us, he would present a different perspective, too.
Points of view are like that; they are as varied as people, with individual hypothesis and conclusion.
Now, as for the grandmother and grandson, one of us might have been correct—or maybe not. But in this instance, I wish husband and first son were wrong.
As my contemporaries and I continue to advance in years (this is discussed at length in my new book, What, Me Retire? to be launched in September), I wish young people were as kind as the young man in the restaurant to their elders.
I wish they'd heed the words of the good Book, found in 1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'”
When we left the place, the young man was wheeling the old lady toward a shiny limo where a uniformed driver was opening the passenger door.
Image: http://home.netcom.com/~swansont/
6 comments:
can i tell you a secret? a long time ago, i had thought that "glass half-full" was the pessimist's POV bec glass is ONLY half-full far as he's concerned. While "glass half-empty" was only you-know, half-empty, at least it was half- full.add that to your list of perspectives! (did i make sense there?)
That makes a lot of sense, Lucy! And definitely another point of view. I've always known Creative Directors looked at things differently. This is one more proof.
An Engineer sees the glass as twice as big as needed.:=)Ay Apo!
Yes, especially an Ilocano Engineer. Wen apo!
I imagine our grandkids pouring that much love to us when we grow old. Bring them up in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.
I only have one at the moment--so I am pinning all my hopes on that one. Unless I have more (wishful thinking!)
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