The Mayores of Spain
In the US, I’m not accustomed to seeing the elderly out and about. I’ve lived amid the urban chaos of New York City, relaxed in the sunny suburban landscapes of San Diego, and weathered San Francisco’s windy streets for years on end, rarely seeing elderly people in daily life. I didn’t think about it at the time, but now that I am in Spain, I have to ask: where in the hell were they all those years?
Imagine, old folks out and about, mixing with the rest of us in daily life, surrounded by friends and family who don’t want them cloistered away in a dingy geriatric facility to be treated like objects of shame and derision.
In the Olletas neighborhood of Málaga, where I currently live, you see mayores, as the elderly are respectfully called, in the calles, in the cafeterías, in the tiendas. Their hair is gray and their bodies squat and crumpled. They are assisted by female attendants who help them safely maneuver through the streets. Some hunch over walkers, struggling mightily to creep along, an inch or two at a time, as their helpers patiently creep along beside them, keeping a watchful eye on their slow but steady progress.
Mayores gather on benches and the terrazas of cafeterías with their gray-haired paisanos to have a café con leche or maybe a beer, and to talk to one another in indistinct voices rough with age. It’s a strange sight to see because, as I said, it’s one I am unaccustomed to in my native US.
Imagine, old folks out and about, mixing with the rest of us in daily life, surrounded by friends and family who don’t want them cloistered away in a dingy geriatric facility to be treated like objects of shame and derision. In Spain, yes, mayores walk among us and go to all the same places, albeit a little more slowly and with a little more help than most of us need.
It is a credit to Spanish culture and the basic dignity and decency of the Spanish people that, unlike in the US, the elderly remain within the parameters of quotidian life and are not shunted away to be forgotten and neglected.
Is there a lesson to be learned here? Yes, I’d say there is.
