An elderly man ...

After mentioning about Samuel's little first steps yesterday, another thought came upon me this afternoon when I saw an almost similar scenario as described to me by Audrey Kwek yesterday but this time, it was a frail elderly man.

I spotted him as I ran down the stairs and across the road to pick up my car. He was walking really slowly with the help of a walking aid. Each step he took had a break of almost half a minute or more. I guess he's in his late seventies, greying hair and a slightly crooked back.

I could see the pain in his face as he slowly attempted each step. Perspiration could be seen through his short sleeved shirt he wore as his frail hands assisted in his every move. I approached him and asked in Mandarin if I could help him. He didn't look up and I asked once again in a local dialect Hokkien. Without lifting his head and only having eyes on the floor, he raised his hand and made a sign interpreting to the numbers 7 and 5.

I guess he was walking to the bus stop to catch bus 75. I asked him once again if he needed me to bring him to his destination but he didn't respond. Perhaps he wanted to walk on his own without any help or assistance from anyone or perhaps ,he didn't understand what I was saying.

I felt really sad when I had to walk away from this old man who had so much problems walking even a mere 10 metre distance but yet he requested no help but only moving on with his daily life. He wanted to do it alone despite the suffering limbs and the scorching heat. I wanted so much to either put him in my car or a taxi so that he could comfortably reach his destination.

I won't call this sympathy but more of an act of duty towards an elder person who has perhaps contributed to this society of ours in someway or another. It also triggered thoughts about reaching old age and the inconvenience one has to suffer especially in this case of disability.

For some, walking is as easy as ABC but for this particular man, a few simple steps forward is a huge challenge. Therefore, as we thread this journey we call life, let's learn to treasure what we have and make full use of the gifts that our Maker has given us and not let those strong limbs we were given go to waste as someday, our Maker might just make them weak.