Mutryce Williams

My thoughts drift back to days spent sitting on that paint pan in the midst of that kitchen floor or leaning over the half open part of that said kitchen door. Do you remember those ones, the ones that you had to hook shut? You throw open the top part so that you could gaze at the trees and the lush vegetation and let that good country air flow in, then at nights you would hook it shut. Those days were spent in great conversation. Those days were spent in molding. Those days were spent in indoctrination. Those days were spent in sharing. Those days were spent learning to treasure the old.

I was just sharing and laughing about those days with Jo-Ann. It was those days of sitting and waiting for that pot to come off the fire and waiting for the food to be parceled out and seeing how much more that food could stretch so that an extra elderly person in the village could get a meal, because my grandmother always worried about whether this or that ‘shut in’ person was getting proper nourishment. It was those days of being piled up with bowls and told to canvas that end of the village then come back and canvas the other end when the first one was done and please don’t think that you are going to ask to eat first before you busied yourself making sure that these people were nourished.

It was those days of passing fellow younglings along the way on the same mission and bidding them warm and sunny ‘howdys.’ And it was the strangest thing because sometimes you and that other child would ‘butt up’ because you were both going to take a meal to that same old person. This may be a good day for you because it may mean that you don’t have to stay as long chatting with that person, so you would do a little mad dash to ‘beat out’ the other person, so that he or she would be the last one there and have to stay for conversation. It’s not that you didn’t enjoy the encounters. It’s just that that would cut the visiting time a bit and get you back home in time to savour your meal. On entering the yard at times we would both be greeted with a ‘Thank you, God bless you lil soul and how you doing? Rest that one there in front me, rinse of the spoon there with a lil water from the kit. And you over there just put the other bowl in the ‘safe or cupboard, cover it over properly so it don’t turn too sour. I would tackle it in the morning. And tell you grandmother I say thank you and she must come look for me a lil more often.’ This may be met by a raised eyebrow and puzzled look because if your memory served you correct, your grandmother visited just yesterday with breakfast or the day before to pray with the prayer group.

Then the conversation would begin and sometimes you running over in your head how you going ‘get away’ today because there would be a whole heap of endless chatting. Don’t get me wrong I learnt so much from these encounters. I grew to love and treasure these encounters. The historical lessons were phenomenal but then there were those times when all the business ‘got let out.’ Whenever I returned home I was able to report on the happenings because trust me something new was always revealed. I would remark to my grandmother, ‘but Mommy, I didn’t know that such and such were brother and sister or I didn’t know that he was she father, well how come Jane mother give her to she Aunty, well I didn’t know that he had a child she, well where the child now, but who have known, I thought Sue and Sarah were sister I didn’t know that they were mother and daughter? How come you didn’t tell me that such and such is we family and why you didn’t tell me that grandfather name is he nickname and not a real name, well, well, well.” And there was a lot of I didn’t knows, how comes and so if that is so then that would Maude and Pearl cousin right, well that just so mix up.” At the end of the conversation I normally heard, ‘but child how all this come your business I aint send you up there for none of that? I don’t want you to grow up and mind people business.’ I have to admit that there were even those days when I would find an excuse to visit one of those people just so that they could finish a story. Whether it was saying, “you know that I hear Jane say long time she aint had no soursop tea, you want me carry some for her with some crackers?’ I often wonder if these days are as prevalent now, as they were when I was growing. I wonder how many of us can sit and relive those days. I wonder how many of us would employ our children or grandchildren to the task and now that I now reflect upon it. I don’t think that my grandmother realized that she was not only nourishing their bodies by sending food but she was also nourishing their spirits by sending me to chat with them for an hour or two because some of them were lonely, even those who had families and all that they wanted was someone to listen to them. I don’t think that she realized that employing me on these little tasks or errands was building character and providing me with a valuable education on life.

It is my opinion, that we, the younger generation, society as well are losing a lot because we fail to measure and treasure the contributions of our senior citizens. We look upon them as burdens as opposed to resources or a reservoir of knowledge. In the age of technology we say that there is nothing that they can possibly teach us when in actuality there is. There are a lot of us who don’t understand the virtue of sacrifice, discipline, perseverance or delaying gratification. I must also add the virtue simply doing or going without. We don’t know what it means to struggle. We sometimes cave and buckle easily under life’s pressure. We sometimes complain that life is so hard. I think if we really spent valuable time with some of our treasures they can share a story or two with us. I know that there are times when they are willing to share with us that we think that they talk because they just want to or as we like to say because they just ‘miserable and hegging.’ I may be because they are trying to communicate with us and telling us that we ought to be thankful for what we have.

I know that we are celebrating the Month of the Elderly and I must say that I think that Mrs. Ann Wigley and her team does an incredible job in showing our senior citizens that they are treasured. I have attended a few of the events and I saw the responses from these people who are given a chance to congregate with each other, as well as a chance to display their talent. She is adamant that they should not be shunted or pushed to the wayside. She truly believes that there is a lot of life left in their years. She truly believes in them. She must be lauded. As we celebrate and treasure our senior citizens let’s reflect on the contributions that they have made for us, to our society and to our nation. Let’s treasure our old.