George Burns once said,
”
You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces
and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there.
”
George Burns once said, “You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there.”
Local senior Sheila Foote writes in regard to last week’s subject of the threat of budget cuts to the OUTREACH transportation program. This service is contracted by law through the Valley Transit Authority and helps seniors and those who are disabled to get to doctors’ appointments and out to buy groceries. “Thank you for such a wonderful article. My name is Sheila Foote, and I live at the Senior Complex, Sunset Gardens, on Third and Wren. There are so many of us that depend on OUTREACH to get us to doctors’ appointments. I myself am recovering from a stroke and not doing too good nor too badly. I take one day at a time. Thank goodness we have people who will fight for our cause. Why can’t those in charge dispense with some of the buses on lines where they aren’t so busy (I have seen as few as three or four people on a bus), or put light rail on the back burner? Start by taking from the top. The seniors need not suffer because the Valley Transit Authority cannot solve their own problems.”
Well put, Mrs. Foote! I like your spirit, and the determined way you tell me, “I will be e-mailing the Mayor of Gilroy and Don Gage who is on the Transit Board. Mr. Gage has done some things to make seniors’ lives a little easier.” By the way, Don Gage welcomes comments from the public at www.dongage.org or
299-5010.
It is a sad result of our youth-worshipping culture what little respect we give the contributions of those who are senior among us. But with more than 500 seniors in our community depending on help with transportation (many stuck out in the country on rural routes) for basic necessities, we can’t turn a blind eye.
When you think of the endless hours of volunteer work done by seniors in our community, their activism, and the events made possible by them, such as the ground-breaking this week for the new homeless transitional center, the contributions of our seniors are impossible to adequately measure and appreciate.
With our pastor away on a three- and-a-half-week road trip across the south, hiking and enjoying swamp and voodoo tours, I was honored to be asked to give the invocation to start the City Council meeting this past Monday. I have never prayed in front of people like Mayor Springer or the members of the Council before, so I was a bit nervous. I thought of my old friend Florence Trimble, one of our local seniors whose work still inspires me, and I knew she would say, “Go for it!” In the words of Monday night’s invocation:
“May we clothe ourselves with tenderhearted compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. May we make allowance for each others’ faults and differences of opinion. We ourselves have been forgiven many things; may we remember to forgive those who offend us. And the most important piece of clothing we must wear is love of our community. Love is what binds us together and brings harmony. … For as members of one community we are all called to live in peace. May we do all the good we can for as many as we can, and most especially for those in our community who are most in need. May our Mayor and the members of the Council make wise decisions as we work together for the good of Gilroy.”
