National Seniors Day happened in Canada on Saturday and we didn't do anything about it. Did you?
This annual day seems to come and go with no real movement to inspire everyone to cheer in unison, "time to get up and show your respect and do something."
But why is this? For someone whose grandparents have passed and no elderly relatives around, interacting with seniors is not something habitual in our everyday lives.
This past weekend was a good example. And we were not alone. We saw it.
Saturday was filled with café chatter about Trump, watching Jays in their playoff run, and that all night art spectacle known as Nuit Blanche.
Countless moments and opportunities squandered to say, "Wait, I should call my grandparents," or "I should go to that senior's home and say hello to some residents," or even say some kind words to a senior on the street.
We didn't do any of it. Did you?
These days come and go. We have Mother's Day. We have Father's Day. There seems to be a day for everyone and everything these days.
These annuals seem to let us off the hook for the other 364 days of the year. Like some grand gesture is going to make someone feel valued and appreciated.
Cut to National Senior's Day on Saturday and no friend mentioned it to us or that they were doing anything about it. When probed, most had no idea that there was such a day.
Huh.
Newsflash. We will all be seniors no matter how we cut it. We can't escape it.
So let's fast forward to that time. Ok there we are.
We are a senior. It is our first National Seniors Day. Hooray!
Now a lot of our friends will have passed and an almost an assured fact our parents will be gone. We may have a partner and kids, but we may not.
So now we potentially could be living alone. By ourselves. How would you be celebrating?
But it's National Seniors Day, and everyone is going to make us feel special right?
Valued. Appreciated. Worthy.
Think we are fooling ourselves. We are a self-involved world. We are busy. And it's about getting through the day. But we all have choice.
At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves, where does the priority to focus on seniors fall on our day to day list?
Just think, seniors were once us. They were once doing what we are doing. They were once busy like us.
But now not so much. And many are alone and feel like an afterthought.
Now they desire companionship. Someone to share stories with. Someone to laugh with. Someone to hold hands with.
Human connection is everything. We all know what it feels like when there is a void.
Seniors are human beings and we need to act and believe that age means nothing.
So what's the ask here? Like, what can we all do now?
Let's change the channel. Let's venture to be proactive to spend time with seniors in meaningful ways 365 days of the year.
Every year. Visit. Call. Learn. Speak. Listen.
The fear is that if we don't all step up and change the narrative from "oh yeah, I should call and visit" and in some cases living in a world where seniors are not even in our peripheral view, we all will be fostering a society that will in the end hurt us.
That's right. You. Me. And all of our friends.
It will hurt not to have daily contact. Not to be valued.
We will be seniors one day.
Let this be a lesson for all of us that one day cannot give a human being celebration.
Let's be senior lovers every day of the year and actually do something to make another human being feel human.
Let's not see another National Seniors Day go by where we see blank stares.
Our research uncovered several ways you can get involved with seniors. That link is here.
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