"What I have and what I don't have": A grandmother sends a letter to a local newspaper revealing that she feels very alone
In our youth, we are encouraged to grow, to mature, to know how to create friendships and strong bonds that last for life, but when we become senior citizens things are not exactly like that.
Very often people, when they become elderly, experience a great sense of loneliness that in some cases can become a symptom of severe depression.
If as a young person, one can try to fight sadness and depression by going out and doing something else, as an elderly person perhaps one does not have the mental nor physical strength to manage one's life in a better way.
via ABC
A letter published by Pilar Fernendez Sanchez in a local newspaper made us reflect on what contributes to the sense of loneliness and isolation that some elderly people experience. Her letter was republished on the Internet on the user Aner Condra's Twitter account.
The letter is titled: "What I have and what I do not have". In the letter, Pilar informs us that she is 82 years old, 4 children, 11 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren, but they rarely come to visit her. She lives in a 129 sq ft (12 sq m) apartment and only entertains herself by playing sudoku.
Pilar is longing for the past when her grandchildren were younger and came to her house together with their parents and she prepared delicious food for her beloved grandchildren and the whole family. But this reality no longer exists for Pilar.
According to the words in her letter, currently, the 82-year-old woman to keep herself busy does occupational therapy and helps elderly people like herself in doing their daily chores.
However, she does admit, that she does not become too attached to these elderly people because very often and all too easily they pass away.
In any case, now all that remains of her large family are the photos she keeps on the windowsill in her apartment.
Pilar's situation serves as a reminder that many people believe that families are created so that parents can have a tomorrow with their children.
This is done so that, hopefully, the children as adults will voluntarily and with love and gratitude repay their elderly parents for the time they spent maintaining and educating them.
It is obvious that Pilar's letter sends a strong message to both the elderly and the adult children who, for one reason or another, have left their elderly parents to face their old age without them.
