ARGUMENT and PERSUASION

Last Christmas I had a very interesting conversation with my grandfather. The rest of the family was gawking at Christmas presents, singing Christmas carols, or gathering the dirty dishes together from a much anticipated dinner. The two of us however, sat alone in the corner of my parent's basement, surrounded by hunting trophies my father had acquired throughout his hunting career. I asked the question "How's life?" The answer my grandfather gave made me realize that being young is a virtue and a social injustice has enveloped the elderly of our society.

"Life was great," Grandpa replied.

"Was?" I leaned closer, looking deeply into his eyes, blue with age.

He laughed. "Yes my grandson...was!"

My grandfather had always been modest, but his shaking, faltering voice and inability to look me in straight in the eye gave him a just reason to boast. His boasting, however, was not of his good fortune. That night, he told me that he planned to ask my parents for money. Why? His social security benefits have been cut to the bone.

"How come?" I asked, concerned.

"I don't know...government says."

I am not one to keep up on social events or the passing of legislative bills. Come to think of it, neither was Grandpa, but his age had forced him to. As our conversation lengthened, so did my knowledge of the senior citizens in our society. Other bits of unfairness poured from his mouth. For example, people his same age are receiving better benefits as far as housing, food and clothing are concerned. The difference? They are people from other countries and those people were granted benefits that my grandfather cannot receive, because they are immigrants. His knowledge of human life and anything else has been brushed away by younger people simply because he was old and thought of as senile or boring. Social security taken from his hard-earned paychecks had been denied him, forcing him to retire to in what he called, "An old folks home."

"That's why I will plead with your parents for money. The heat bill is due, so is rent and there is little food in my house. I would rather die now than spend the rest of my life in one of those old people places."

My first thought was that yes Grandpa, you should go to a retirement home, but then again, he had a point. The old are placed after everyone else, it seems, knowledgeable minds set aside to gather dust before they die and are lifted from the burden of the government. He had a right to demand from society what he had given it.

"Grandpa, I'll talk to mom and dad and see if I can help."

He stared blankly at the wall and did not reply.

"Grandpa?"

I leaned closer and found he could not respond. He had died on the spot, his weak heart giving way to death. I stared in shock and guilt as his last words rang through my head, and I knew ironically that he would have rather had it that way.

THE END

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