Grateful For Long Life

By Herbert Vego

ON waking up yesterday, I felt dizzy, as if having another vertigo attack. Notwithstanding, I tried to get up – only to slump on bed like a knocked-down boxer. It took a few minutes before I could sit up with my head propped up against the wall.

Fortunately, my sister, a retired government physician, paid me a visit. My blood pressure reading was 150/100. I had to undergo several blood tests and a chest x-ray so she could diagnose my health problem.

Early this morning, I drove to the nearest laboratory to undergo the procedures my sister had requested for. Spending money for these examinations would not really disable my wallet, I thought, as long as I don’t have to be confined in a hospital. I prayed the results would not be so cruel.

The hospital is one “cruel” place I would not like to return to anymore as much as possible. I had been there a number of times and found it inhospitable, always draining the money that had taken my bank account many months to accumulate.

As I write, I realize I am turning 75 years old soon.  I have been writing for a living for 55 years since 1970.

Not bad, I thanked God. That is five years beyond 70, which is the average lifespan of Filipinos. Nevertheless, I wondered, “Where have all the good old days gone?” It seemed only yesterday when I was young, aspiring for a successful future in journalism; but now I am young once.

I consoled myself with the determination to stay alive in accordance with King David’s view that men who stay alive after age 70 enjoy “bonus” years: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it ins soon cut off and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

I can’t afford to get sick. A journalist has a “till death do us part” covenant with his profession. After 55 years of survival doing the only job I had trained for, I still have unfulfilled dreams.

But why complain? I have already gone to places that most Filipinos have seen only in pictures. It’s like time-traveling. While in New York City, I stood in front of the 138-year-old Statue of Liberty.  While I was in Washington DC, I had pictures taken with the 103-year-old statue of Abraham Lincoln.

The vitamin advertisement “Bawal magkasakit” strikes at the core of the bitter reality that the average senior citizen eventually dies poor in our country – no thanks to expensive medicine and hospitalization. My late parents, both educators, had exhausted their retirement money while confined in hospital. My father died of lung cancer while confined; my mom, of an accident while confined, too.

If I were working in the West – say the United States or Canada – I would not worry of dying poor. The government would foot medical and hospital bills.

On second thought, I am still luckier than some of my classmates who have gone to Kingdom Come. An added feather to my cap is that I can still “perform”.

I often check my memory for confirmation that my brain is still in place, recalling that time when I could not remember the email password that I had been using for a forgotten number of years.

To prove myself wrong I mentally recalled the names of my classroom teachers. I succeeded in naming all my teachers in the elementary grades but not all in high school and college. I wondered whether childhood memories die last.

I recalled those days with my late great grandfather Catalino. I was a preschool kid in the 1950s when I accompanied him to the grave of his late wife Felipa. That done, he said to me, “Better to have lived and died than not to have lived at all.”

Those words still ring in my ears as I try hard to pin hope in the afterlife. It’s a healthy food for thought for this God believer who prays for recovery without having to be hospitalized.

-oOo-

MORE POWER’S CHARITABLE INITIATIVE

FOR five years, MORE Electric and Power Corp. has made it a tradition to donate to charitable organizations, spreading kindness and love each holiday season. The company’s efforts focus on organizations that improve lives through education, healthcare, and essential services.

The recent beneficiaries are Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center, St. Anne Parish – Molo, Asilo de Molo, Colegio De San Jose, St. Clement’s Parish Church, Assumption Iloilo, Carmelite Missionary – Jaro, Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc., Red Cross Iloilo, and St. Dominic.

To quote MORE Power President Roel Z. Castro, “Last Holiday season, we were reminded of the significance of relentless giving. At MORE Power, we are honored to support those who selflessly contribute to improving our community. Together, we are committed to building a brighter and more compassionate Iloilo.”

MORE Power will complete its fifth year of continuous power-distribution service in Iloilo City on February 28 this year.