TAKING CARE OF THE ELDERLY AND THE INFIRM

At KUT Seminary, I have observed children instituting endowments and prizes in the names of their illustrious parents. Some of the donors are abroad. Some reside in India. The latter are not wealthy as those abroad. Still they wish to honour the memory of their parents who sacrificed for their children.

There, at times, I get the opportunity to interact with the students. I advise them to visit the members of their congregations and listen to the infirm whose children are all away, some, somewhere in Kerala, some within India and some abroad.

While I was at Kollam, I had  an occasion to meet an elderly widowed customer at Karunagappally. He was residing in a posh house in the middle of a very large compound. His children, some five or six of them, were all abroad either in the Gulf or in USA. There was a maid to prepare food. There was a brand new car and a driver. The driver's job was to come in the morning, spend time with the elderly person and take him for a ride in the evening to Karunagappally and back. The children were paying the expenses of the maid and the driver. 

Yes, they couldn't leave everything and come back and stay with their father. But they were visiting him at intervals. I could sense the care and love and affection there.

Leelammamma, Lila's cousin and former teacher in Calicut Medical College was recently telling her that many of her husband's contemporaries were not in the best of their health. 

Material needs of dear ones, one can always look after. But the question arises, as at an advanced age where one's real needs are far and few, are the old getting what they really require.

Materialism or not we take decisions in life. And they lead us on. But what we tend to forget is, ultimately it's God who guides us all through life, especially when we feel we have everything.

Yes, whatever we have is a gift from God and is momentary.