A Day of Celebration, a lifetime of silence
It has become customary to dedicate a single day each year to honour the elderly — Grandparents’ Day, Senior Citizens’ Day — moments marked by speeches, floral tributes, and public praise. Dignitaries salute them, functions are held, and their contributions are ceremoniously acknowledged. But behind the curtain of celebration lies a harsh truth — many grandparents are not honoured in their own homes. Once the heartbeat of the family, they are now often ignored, seen as burdens weighed down by illness, fragility, or fading relevance — unless, of course, they carry a pension. Innumerable elders are pushed to old-age homes, not out of choice but compulsion — outcasts in houses they built with their sweat and sacrifice. These homes, though comfortable and social, are a reminder of society’s failure. Their laughter echoes with longing; their hearts ache for the warm chaos of family, not clinical comfort. Grandparents, rich in wisdom, are adored by grandchildren for their stories and warmth, yet their own adult children silence their voices. They are sidelined, labelled irrelevant in the prime of their vulnerability. The same fate shadows senior citizens — forgotten in homes they once filled with dreams. In the West, the pattern is more accepted: married children seek privacy and independence, shifting away from their parents. But even there, abandonment during the twilight years is a painful reality. In our own society, we now mimic this model, proudly calling it modern, when in truth it is a betrayal. We forget — these elders once nurtured us with tireless love. Now they pine in silence, yearning to be wanted, to hear a familiar voice, to feel the warmth of family. Many breathe their last longing for the touch of a child they raised. No annual celebration can heal the wounds of year-round neglect. Respect, dignity, love — these are not seasonal gestures. They must be offered every single day. Let us not wait for our turn to taste the same bitter medicine before we realise our failure. Let us remember: they were always there for us. Now it is our turn Nelson Lopes Chinchinim Nelson Lopes Chinchinim https://lopesnelsonnat.wordpress.com
