I have meant to write a post with photos about the poem “When You are Old” by William Butler Yeats. This has been sitting in my notepad for months already.
I can not precisely remember the reasons why I haven’t made it in a post but foremost I remember is that I do not have photos of people who were well beyond their golden age. This stage I can think of several photo images but the one I thought would be very apt would be that of the setting sun.
Finally I had photos (several taken with permission to publish) but I decided to put these in a commentary/post I have written about people beyond the golden years who still work hard for their families. Not because they love doing it but because they have no choice.
Why so?
They have no financial security that they have established early on like retirement benefits or seniors life insurance. Most of these people, especially those coming from the urban and rural marginalized sector have nothing like these.
A lot have not had the chance to have their children get the proper education and skills to be able to make it in the competitive world of being employed so they end up still working for these over-age dependents. And these dependents’ children as well.
Maybe because they really had no choice but to work for a living, even if their frail bodies are telling them to relax and slow down.
Or maybe they just love to be on the move.
My grandparents were like that, they are always on the move, tidying up, sewing, going to church activities, cooking, tending the farms of the garden, reading a book while sitting on a rocking chair and eventually dozing off and doing a host of other things.
When I am old and gray, would I have regrets about the way I lived my life?
When I am old and gray, would I still be positive about life?
When I am old and gray, would my husband and children still hug and kiss me?
I hope I would be able to live to see the answers to these questions.
