The Old Grandfather’s Corner
Sep 6th, 2010 by Timothy Pancoast
(from Grimm’s Fairy Tales)
Once upon a time there was a very old man who lived with his son and daughter-in-law. His eyes were dim, his knees tottered under him when he walked, and he was very deaf. As he sat at table his hand shook so that he would often spill the soup over the tablecloth or on his clothes, and sometimes he could not even keep it in his mouth when it got there. His son and daughter were so annoyed to see his conduct at the table that at last they placed a chair for him in a corner behind the screen, and gave him his meals in an earthenware basin quite away from the rest. He would often look sorrowfully at the table with tears in his eyes, but he did not complain.
One day, while he was thinking sadly of the past, the earthenware basin, which he could scarcely hold in his trembling hands, fell to the ground and was broken. The young wife scolded him well fro being so careless, but he did not reply, only sighed deeply. Then she bought him a wooden bowl for a penny and gave him his meals in it.
Some days afterward his son and daughter saw their little boy, who was about four years old, sitting on the ground trying to fasten together some pieces of wood.
“What are you making, my boy?” asked his father.
“I am making a little bowl for papa and mamma to eat their food in when I grow up,” he replied.
The husband and wife looked at each other without speaking for some minutes. At last they began to shed tears, and went and brought their old father back to the table, and from that day he always took his meals with them and was never again treated unkindly.
So I have been absent for a while (really busy with my newest client), but why am I using my vacation time to post a fairy tale on a politics website? To me this is a story and experience that most of America has lost, and will find very hard to regain at least partly because many Americans don’t want it back. It is a sad, painful story, but it is one that does end on a positive note, though in real life the happy ending is never guaranteed. That is probably why some people don’t want it back. We don’t like pain and discomfort, but we do like a guarantee.
While this is a story and many different lessons can be learned from it, today I want to apply to America’s overuse (perhaps abuse) of nursing homes, social security, and other government programs. To me they represent the wooden bowl, the distant corner, and the screen in this story. Unfortunately in reality I am not sure who or what would fill the role of the little child, or if such a role can exist in real life.
Among other programs social security supplements, and now all too often replaces the role of family in caring for our seniors in retirement. Sometimes family could be cruel and uncaring. Family wasn’t a sufficient guarantee for a comfortable retirement so we turned to another source and found that guarantee, but we lost something in the process. Nursing homes popped up everywhere to make up for the shortcomings in a families capability to take care of their aging relatives needs, but we often let it go too far and allow the convenience and utility of nursing homes to rob us of our experience. So if you are retiree with a wooden bowl I sincerely hope that there is a child out there trying to make a new wooden bowl for your loved ones to arouse their consciences. If you are the relative of a senior citizen I hope that if you see the child playing at making your wooden bowl that you will recognize and accept it as the wake-up call that it is.
I think that if you have labored your whole life to put bread on the table and care for your family, you deserve more than a bed, food, and medical care. I think by that by that point your labors should have earned you something that government programs and nursing homes can’t provide, a family.
President Roosevelt may have restored a measure of security to retirement, but I hope the people of my generation will find it in themselves to restore honor, compassion, and family to the retirees in their lives.
dont you have six figures to burn for O’whackjob from the Tea Party express in California to book -keep???
Dont be telling fairytales – the 9/12ers could use some of the dough as well as “Grizzley’s” money will run out and then what will you racist nut jobs do then??
start cooking books???
Thanks Timothy