COMPASSION FOR THE ELDERLY

"For compassion to be fully realized, it needs bonding. It requires creating a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. A bond that continues to live on.
That is the most gratifying result of true compassion. Do you bond with the one you have compassion for, or do you remain apart? Does your interaction achieve anything beyond a single act of sympathy?"
[Chabad.org]

Compassion for the elderly who is disabled, to show sympathy for one who is wise in years but instead referred to as "old" like an old used appliance that does not work anymore and so is discarded like an old hat.

Living alone, as an older adult, in an empty nest that once held laughing children and celebrations of holidays, that no longer happen. No parties that are thrown in this house that needs repairs, not enough money to do remodeling, paint falling off walls that have not been painted since who knows how long?

Not having youthful vision, not seeing the dust on the furniture or the dirt on the floor, putting off jobs that would make the house a more livable place. Weeds growing in the grass that even poison cannot kill, yellowing grass, old patches of withering turf, like yellowing skin on a face that is deeply embedded with lines of age, lines that reflect constant sorrowfulness as another aged friend is buried, another line, another reason to grieve. Grieving for all your losses, that are innumerable, each day being more stressful than the last, another loss, another day of a fight to stay alive, another reason why you would rather be dead.

Feeling sorry and giving empathy for the aged, giving them compassion, as each day for them is a day that they feel body aches and pains, stiffness of joints, weakened muscles, arthritis, poor blood circulation, old worn out body organs, wishing as they do to be out of their body, and into a body without pain, a body that works.

Praying for the aged, for these people who use each day to fight a battle, keeping them in your heart and giving them forgiveness, being sorry that they hurt, praying that they will find a day of peace.