Showing posts with label Senior citizen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senior citizen. Show all posts

Friday, August 21, 2009

THE BIRTH OF SENIOR DEBUTANTE

TAKE it or leave it, but this world is blessed with people with innate brilliance in them which they don't even realize they possess. As they grow in age, their wisdom grows, too. The signs show at early age among children which the pessimists and the ignorant turn down as mere misbehavior. As a teacher, I happened to learn this phenomenon along the way. Left untapped perhaps due to ignorance and recalcitrant attitude by us, adults, these children grow into adults who could lose their youthful opportunities for growth and development.

MY unfinished mission as a teacher who wanted to help children to be properly guided, gives birth to "Senior Debutante". I trust that senior citizens will have access to the Internet and become instrumental in helping brilliant children develop to their fullest. They may start in their own homes with their children's children and extended families.

TIME is closing in on us, senior debutantes. You may be someone's grandpa or grandma; or somebody's old pop or mom; or that gentleman or gentle lady I meet daily along the street, in school, in the office, in church, in a restaurant or elsewhere. It's never too late to be of service to our young and to others. As we offer ourselves to them, we likewise cultivate that God-given talent we may not know we possess.

BY introducing our loved ones, young and old alike, to the wonders of IT, our innate goodness will eventually be challenged. The youth easily respond to modernized gadgets so there's no problem with them. The bottleneck is in the way they handle their new-found freedom with technology. This is where we, senior citizens, can do our mission- to redirect their talents to their own good. To us adults, there is no reason to believe that our life as a whole will be a downhill struggle. We can still be productive by being techie. Many children out there need our guidance and care.

THE senior debutantes must view the horizon as full of promises and opportunities. They have to feign off boredom by doing something worthwhile. Patience, endurance, and commitment are important attributes for them to be able to understand and follow thru the complexities of IT, the Internet way, of course.

DISTANCE between and among senior debutantes and their loved ones is not meant to be. Modern technology bridges distances in many ways; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and the like. Let's snap out from that feeling of emptiness. "Senior debutante" is here. My fellow seniors, are you ready to bring out that innate brilliance and get real close to others?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

RETIREMENT ISN'T A SCARY THING

The mere mention of the word "retirement" evokes mixed emotions to candidates in their age of reckoning. "Scared" is a likely feeling that disturbs the mind. But what are we really afraid of?

Here, let me give you a first-hand experience about retirement. If you are healthy and well, there seems to be no problem. But if you have a health condition that needs immediate attention, postponing your retirement is scary. Don't you think so?

Retirement must be viewed by all candidates as a reward- a bonus. You had spent the first 20 years of your life earning an education from the day you were born up to your college days. You fought it out to find a good job the next 20 years and most likely are settled with a family. Another 20 years will be your monument of performance for yourself, your family, for others, and the country. This, I am very sure. It's your turn now to analyze your spirituality. How much more time do you have for your relationship with God? If the life span of man as mentioned in the Bible is 76, you only have a few years to return to God all the blessings received, our divine provider.

I am not a devout Catholic but by circumstance of our children's needs whom we enrolled at our local christian school, my husband and I, together with our daughters, attended the required Bible studies and studied with other parents during their grade school years. Otherwise, our participation in church was just ordinary and non-participative.

My retirement days are my only chance to deepen my faith in God. Not that I didn't do this all those years. Ten years ago, I signed up as a lector in our parish. I religiously participated in Eucharistic celebrations. If I am not serving as lector or commentator, I am with the parish choir serving during the first two masses on Sundays at 5:15 and 6:30 am. What I enjoy most as a choir member is singing during special masses such as funeral as well as wedding masses. I am an alto singer and I love to descant.

I am not scared about retirement. I am thankful that if I live up to the age of 80 years, I have ten years more to complete another 20 years which I already started to offer in service to God and the church. This way I am giving myself luxury time to walk with God thru my religious activities in church and in the community of fellow Catholics. Now, are you still scared?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I AM A SENIOR DEBUTANTE!


When I was 60 years of age, I thought I started to analyze what is meant by "Life is sweeter the second time around". I was a teacher then, too engrossed with my job that I almost forgot I was at the threshold of senior citizenship. My birthday would have passed barely unnoticed had it not because of my two children. They called me up from Manila a week before my birthday and amidst my refusals and excuses they were able to extract from me information they wanted, like, where we could comfortably celebrate my birthday, the number of guests, etc., etc.

In no time at all, I received an LBC package of my first ever formal birthday invitation cards. The card was beautifully crafted with my most beautiful picture glaring back at me and this message, "Mommy Lita is turning 60, etc." What caught my fancy most was this line, "She said she was too old for a party, the next thing you know, she has her guest list". I giggled with suppressed excitement!

At 18, I didn't have a party for my debut. Although I admit I wanted to have one so much like all debutantes do. So I said, "Aha!" Have you ever heard of a senior debutante? (I prefer this term because it connotes youthful rather than degenerative feeling). Well, that was me. How I enjoyed my special day with my two daughters who brought along with them my sisters from Manila. Our other relatives and my friends were as surprised as I was. Today, at 63, I have a vivid memory of my instant party on a borrowed party dress, my tarpaulin, my layered birthday cake, the food, the air-conditioned venue, the gifts and a birthday photo album at last!

Life is really sweeter the second time around, you know?

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails