What Should We Do for the Old

Lying on the bed, covered with the warm quilt, soft pillow and comfortable mattress prepared my grandmother, I still could not fall asleep yet. I was thinking about my her who lives alone for most of her life. She was one of the most capable, diligent, independent and greatest women in the world. Before I was born, my grandpa passed away because of cancer. At that time, she was only 52 years old. I heard from my mother that all of my family members and even some of her friends suggested her to find a good man to get married. However, she refused their friendly advice, moreover, she even rejected some men who desired to further contact with her.

As time went by, grandma is getting older. The health condition of her is not so good, what’s worse, she continues to get thinner recently after she got the diabetes mellitus. Cataract, stomach disease and other complications comeoff the reel such as the flood rushed. In order to see things clearer, she had to have a cataract surgery, although the operation can only help her to see a rough shape of things. After the surgery, mum purchased grandma a cellphone with larger number keys than those of the common ones so that grandma can contact us whenever she has a trouble. Even she could see things more clearly than before, she seemed depressed and poor as usual. We tried to ask what she wanted or needed, but she asked for nothing. Then I began to think about the reason why she was unhappy and why she hadn't married with another man in the past few years. Did she really enjoy a single life? Or was she concerned about other issues? I have talked with grandma about my doubt several times, however, I never asked my question directly since I was afraid that it might hurt her again. From her words, I thought that I had found the answer to my question. From then on, I always asked my mum, my uncle and my aunt to spend more time in calling on grandma at their leisure, so did my cousins and I. Grandma seemed to be happier and healthier than before.

What should we do for the old in our families? I believe this must be one of the most eternal questions in the world, which need continuous and practical experiments to find out what the old really need, however, there is no doubt that material items and spirit comforts are the most important key factors to them. To be more exact, I think spiritual comforts from children of the old will definitely make the old become healthier and happier.