Wake up to the needs of the forgotten folk of yesteryear

I wholeheartedly agree with R. Suntharalingam’s letter ‘ The State should do more to look after the aged population’, that appeared in the Sunday Times of April 29.

The aged in Sri Lanka unlike in many other countries have sadly become nonentities. The fact that they spent their youth building up their families, the village, city and the country are forgotten. Who can spend precious time listening to the tales of woe of this ailing sector of society? Maybe some feel they’re best left alone.

Buddhists believe that Lord Buddha went in search of ways of eliminating suffering. Isn’t this the valuable message of Vesak? It seems that illuminating handbooks and sermons are preached to no avail.

Sometimes you see them waiting in queues with a bent spine and aching limbs, a pathetic sight to behold. Some don’t even have a place called a home to live in or a decent income to substitute the pittance supposed to be their sole inheritance.

It’s time this country of lions wakes up to the needs of the aging lions, the silent heroes and heroines of yes- teryear, who sweated to build up a nation that proundly calls itself Sri Lanka.

This is a timely call to those in the seats of administration to wake up to the call of the hour, as the bells toll for one and all.

Solutions are galore if only we bother to look for them and set the wheels of charity moving. A decent monthly income, easy access to medical facilities, comfortable living standards, loving, tender care are all they need.

What a blissful adieu it would be for the deserving! Celine Ruvanwella

Via email