On The Dignity of Being Forgetful
POETRY FORMAT, 22 Oct 2012
Francisco Gomes de Matos – TRANSCEND Media Service
Rhymed Reflection
When, partly because of old age, persons forget their family, friends,
facts, they may be dehumanizingly, shamefully referred to as demented
Or they may be euphemistically described as absent-minded
Or trough a linguistically creative formation, they may be said to be
memoriless (on the analogy of penniless)
Are forgetful persons being treated with communicative dignity?
Even when they can no longer remember a family member, a friend
can they be ensured the right to be listened to with all due respect,
as the phraseology goes? How do we fare, in that respect,
when we meet older persons who are cognitively impaired and do not
remember their loved ones, their friends and acquaintances?
By the way, how do we pray for those persons? Given God´s unlimited
love, can we be inspired by divine love and compassionately
interact with forgetful persons?
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Francisco Gomes de Matos is a peace linguist and human rights educator from Recife-Brazil, author, among others, of the book Nurturing Nonkilling: A Poetic Plantation (2010, Center for Global Nonkilling, Honolulu-Hawai’i). Downloadable at www.nonkilling.org. Co-founder: The World Dignity University Initiative.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 22 Oct 2012.
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