Pity, Self-Reflection

Daily Meditation 449–5/20/2023

The quite elderly man placed his groceries onto the belt behind mine.

Some fresh fish, pickles, a clamshell of four the bakery’s donuts (Reese’s Pieces, Fruity Pebbles, chocolate with cookie crumbles, and a white frosted one), denture cream, and a few various canned goods.

I watched his knobby, waxy skinned hands tremble with effort for each item. Hands unadorned by any rings.

The man’s face was cleanshaven, however he had patches along his jawline and neck.

Age spots dotted his body like some great constellation of unknown shape, the horrid, deep plum-colored bruises all over his arms like nebulas representative of his fragility.

His face was sunken in like a death’s head. Exaggerated cheeks. Deeply cratered, rheumy eyes with the irises lined in a ring of fat deposits. Oily, flattened hair pressed along the nape of his neck.

But his eyes were not cruel. They didn’t seem to exude meanness of any sort.

Just world-weariness and loneliness.

— — —

In the brief minute or so next to this man in line, I couldn’t help feeling some love for him. An adoration of sorts, but comingled with a sensation of almost foreshadowing.
Although, he just as easily could be topfilled with endless stories of love, adventure, and joy!

We must respect and have some pity for those who go before us, greatly advanced in age.

Someday, it may very well be you or I all alone in our 90s - stooped, bruised, covered in arthritic knobs, papery skin, and filled full of nine decades of watching the world change, our friends dying, and perhaps our own spouse leaving us here, all alone, for 10, 20, or 30 years.

Here’s the “catch,” however:
Endeavor to bring that same empathy towards all others, if you can. It can be challenging, certainly, but seek to see them at their possible worst and try to understand what they may’ve overcome just to get to today.

Who’s behind you in the line?

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These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”