Whenever I saw elderly people doing manual labor or living alone, I felt bad for the lonely lives they were leading. I wished that they had families to spend the last stage of their life with. Then recently, my family and I visited a relative’s house whose elderly mother was also residing with them. The rest of us were mostly talking amongst ourselves. Occasionally, I glanced at her but felt uncertain about what to talk with her. In some time, my sister initiated a conversation and they both ended up talking animatedly for close to an hour. At that moment, it struck me that despite having family, countless elders still feel lonely because we do not take the effort or time to engage them.

It might not be the most enlightening conversation of our lives, they might be telling the same story for the umpteenth time and doling out advice to us in every sentence. It would probably cost us 30 minutes and some measure of patience, but it would mean the world to them. And in some cases, we might find ourselves pleasantly surprised as my sister was. A few decades down the line, wouldn’t we want someone to do the same for us?