Old fogies need some kindness, please

Pensioners are not invisible, so give them some recognition when you see them, writes

AChristmas tale. Henry goes to the supermarket, parks his car, takes a trolley, walks in. Nobody sees him. He’s invisible. He wheels his trolley down the aisles. Shoppers fl it by him. They look past him. They stare through him. They don’t see him. They don’t acknowledge him. Henry isn’t there. He’s invisible.

You see, Henry is a pensioner. When you’re in that sphere, when old age becomes your living companion, you’re invisible.

People are busy scurrying about making their way.

They haven’t time to waste on old fogies.

Old people must embrace loneliness. Unsung. Disowned.

Disposable. A burden at times heavy as hell.

But we all tread the same path, and youth too soon abandons the youthful.

As singer Paul Simon sagely noted – “We’re all slip sliding away.” Next time you see an elder, give a nod, a wink, a kind word. Not much. Just a gesture of recognition.

A Christmas gift to lift that shroud of invisibility.