Roger Harty: A Thank You To The Elderly…

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AS I sit here reflecting on the Covid-19 virus to date, I feel a deep sense of gratitude towards our elderly population and what they have done for our country.

What they have done is sheer patriotism at its best which is a very rare commodity in the modern world.

The term elderly was defined as ‘those being over 70 years of age’ by our government as this virus began to show its ugly teeth.

As a group, they did not overreact to this terminology or get involved in pedantic pathetic squabbling, they simply got on with the job they were asked to do.

The country was facing a life or death situation, both from a health perspective and also a financial point of view. They could give strong leadership and direction which they undoubtably did but this guidance is utterly useless without swift and universal  cooperation.

The elderly population stood up to the mark with unbelievable acceptance of their role and applied it with great stoicism and dignity. They even gave it a new name ‘Cuckooning’.

Now cuckooning is a very strange name to apply here because when you look at it the cuckoo doesn’t even have a nest (home) of its own. They were asked to stay inside away from everyone on their own and basically to separate themselves from society.

This really was a very big ask as it involved being removed from family and friends and especially grandchildren. The sacrifices they made were indeed enormous.

Now as we begin to enter a new phase and we begin the important but nervous path to recovery, we can see that the ‘cuckoos’ are beginning to emerge from their nests.

We can now see members of our elderly population beginning to take strolls in the local parks many of them experiencing the outdoors for the first time in over 8 weeks.

All of this is new to us and especially them and they must feel particularly nervous as they venture back into society.

My suggestion here is that if you come across such an elderly person and there are hundred of thousands of them scattered around the country, say a simple ‘Thank you’ and welcome them back.

They, by their actions, have show us how to tackle difficulties and to simply apply by the guidelines they were given to the T.

This is where the recovery of the country gets more interesting and more serious in many ways. They ‘the elderly’ have done their job and now they are handing the baton over to us.

How do we know they have done a good job. Like everything else simply look at the results and you will find that overall things are going to plan and the green shoots are beginning to emerge.

As we now move on into the next phase of the lockdown I think it would be remiss of us not to turn to our elderly community and say a heartfelt ‘Thank you’

Yes that ‘Thank You’ is of vital importance but an even better ‘Thank you’ would be to follow their gentle but profound leadership and carry the next phase of the lockdown to a successful conclusion.

Next week I am going to write about — Why I like the term Elderly.

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