Aging is an inevitable process in life that every one of us has to come across. As old age creeps upon us humans, our bodies become weaker and our senses start to fail us. However, it is also in old age that one’s mind becomes richer with experience and wiser with reflections upon the experiences. Therefore, there is no doubt that we have much to learn from the elderly about their many experiences in life. And when it comes to the elderly, the closest one I have ever been with would be my very dear maternal grandfather.
Since I was very young, I have been close with my maternal relatives. My grandfather's house in which two of my mother's siblings, my bachelor uncle and my spinster aunt, also stayed to look after my grandfather was like a second home to me and it was where I got my History lessons on the colonial era, the Japanese era and how life was like many decades back.
My grandfather liked to stay calm and quiet most of the time and tried to show his love and care for us through his actions rather than words. He would silently go about the house as he tried to help out my uncle and aunt with their household chores despite getting much disapproval from many of the family members as he was too frail and vulnerable to falls and accidents. Being a lazy and care-free kid, I did not try to assist him much back then.
Those days when my grandfather and I were alone together in the house were mainly quiet and I could not find many topics to start a good long conversation with him as we were generations apart. However in spite of his quiet nature, when he did get talking about the good old days or subjects that he was interested in, no one could stop him. Everything he talked about was so vivid and detailed, it was as if they only happened a couple of years ago. “When grandpa was young,” was his favorite starting phrase for his nostalgic recounts of the past. He took great pleasure in telling me about those prosperous days when only a fraction of the money needed to buy around one kilogram of rice nowadays in Burma could support an entire family of ten for months. Being someone who had lived under many governments including the British colonists, the Japanese and Burma’s post-independence government, he was also never hesitant to express his strong views and objections on how the incompetent military regime was doing whatever they wanted with the country.
Even though I had always been around him, our relationship was a bit of a blend one as we did not talk much. I could not properly interpret everything he was saying as I was too young and my mind was too immature back in those days. Now that I am have gotten older and are able to understand and appreciate some things in life a bit more, I have started to miss his company a lot. I came to realize the value of his company and his wisdom, which he had gained through ninety-two years of life experience. I think that all of us should appreciate the elderly more and not take them for granted for their wisdom and all they had done for us when they were once young and energetic. One of my greatest wishes now is to take good care of my grandfather and do the things I should have done for him in the past the next time I visit my country.
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