By Tedler D. Depaynos, MD
diseases”.”
My old friend retired as a PNP officer. He was assigned in different places as part of his job so that it was a sort of a mini reunion when we incidentally met in a popular coffee shop. He is back in his small hometown in Ilocos where his roots are and he kept on emphasizing how wonderful to be back home. He started cleaning their mountainous back yard and he thought of raising goats. He was also invited to join some organizations and in one occasion he was requested to give his thoughts on the local Senior Association. He was with all smiles because he was encouraged to join the political arena to replace their long time highest official.
After our informal discussion, I thought of writing his thoughts.
For all of those who have been working and have been receiving their daily wages, retirement is simply no longer receiving their regular monthly 15, 30. For those who have their own businesses, their farms or haciendas, retirement as far as they are concerned may not affect their financial needs. Employed retirees may have lump sum retirement benefits but most of them spent these to improve their modest homes so they could be more comfortable, visited their children abroad to experience the joy of traveling and perhaps bought a simple vehicle for their simple convenience. The result obviously is the consumption of their retirement pay. He emphasized how easily the retirement benefits disappear! Just like him, most of the retirees after a few years are just now dependent on their meager monthly pension. Of course, I had to hide my smile when I looked at him and at his gleaming SUV parked outside.
He said that when he was still working, he and his officemates experienced pain in their back and sometimes in their legs. They started to have the classical “araytis”, but because of their tight schedule which required them to report as early as 7 o’clock in the morning, the “araytis” was tolerated. It was not entertained! Now that he has no office to report to, the feeling of “araytis” cannot be deviated. It worsened and medicines are now required. Actually, because of age and “wear and tear” other diseases like diabetis, pulmonary and cardiac diseases become prevalent and affect us. I am sure many of us are spending most of our monthly pension for medications. And to some, it is not enough! Again I kept my smile when he started lecturing on “elderly diseases”.
According to him, he kept on repeating his thoughts before his audience that one should save their retirement pay and not spend it all for luxury. Save some for your future needs and if possible spend it on something that will be earning for you like an apartment as an extension of your house, a simple business or rice fields. That’s why he thought of cleaning his backyard and started raising goats. In a series of meeting soon he suggested that this would be one of their future agenda. How they could help each other to improve their financial needs. I was wondering, however, if he is now renting out an apartment.
He then emphasized that they should organize themselves so they could help their community. He said that in the area where he came from most of the senior citizen groups participate in religious activities. They should not only help during services, but also provide manpower during charity work. I guess he is out of touch of our local senior citizen activities here.
Senior citizen groups should also invite lecturers during their meetings. They should invite doctors to lecture on their “wear and tear” diseases like osteoarthritis, diabetis, prostate cancer, etc. The lectures could be extended for the younger generacn to listen to like alcoholic addiction, chronic coughing, dengue, etc. I asked him if they would also invite experts in goat raising, propagation of flowering plants like orchids and symbedium and he admitted that those topics did not cross his mind yet.
Finally he said that, it is obvious that most of senior retirees could no longer do heavy manual labor. Hence, they could no longer provide this in their community work. Because of experience, however, many of them are experts in the kitchen. Many of them could cook the well-known Ilocano specialties. Hence, they could volunteer to provide their culinary expertise during community occasions like when they have community visitors, during weddings, fiestas, etc. This would then be part of their community service. Perhaps these could be done in a small town or in a barangay community and I wondered if he started thinking of this when he was “encouraged” to join their local political arena.
He then ended his talk promising his audience he will be in contact with his senior friends from other places and learn from them. He will be inquiring on their community activities and hope they could also apply it to their organization. Maybe that was the reason he brought out the topic while we were sipping our coffee. I cannot tell him anything, however, because although I have a senior citizen card already, I am not yet active in any of their organizations. **
