The Old man

Have you ever seen an old man sitting at one of the park benches. Never bothering anyone. Just sitting there.

The old man sat on the park bench every day and watched the people pass by. He would talked to anyone who stopped for a minute before passing by. He just sat there admiring the young women, feeding the pigeons that would gather around. That was his entire day. Once it started getting dark, he would walk back to his nearby apartment to make some dinner. He lived by himself. His wife passed away several years ago, but his children would check on him every weekend with the grand kids. He’d dig out the old candy jar he kept for just this occasion, and give them each a piece of some homemade candy that he had just made. Then the kids would go outside to the park to play. His kids would always ask him how he was and if he needed anything. He would always say that everything was fine. This was the routine for the weekend. During the week no one came to see him and he would always go to the park to sit on his park bench. On bad days he stayed at home and read the newspaper to learn the latest news going on in the world. This was his life and his world. One day, a man knocked on his door as he was getting ready to leave for the park. He was from the Social Services Department and he started to ask him a lot of questions. How was he feeling, did he know what day it was, what year it was. Did he remember what he did last week and numerous other questions. The old man answered the questions the best that he could, but he didn’t have all the answers. The man made some comments on the file said his goodbye and left. The weekend came, but the kids did not show up. The old man waited all day for them. But they never came. He sat back down in that overstuffed old chair he had and finished reading the paper. Then he thought to himself, that they were running late today and dug out the old candy jar and put it by the chair, just in case they did show up. But they never did. Monday came around and he started getting ready to leave for the park. Just then, there was a knock at the door. The man from the Social Services was back along with two attendants. They were here to take him away. This was outrageous he claim. He had lived in this apartment for all of his adult life and told them that he could take care of himself. He started to close the door and one of the men stuck their foot in the way to prevent him from closing it. The two attendant forced the door open and jabbed him in the arm with a needle of some kind. He then started to doze off. When he woke up, He was in a small unadorned white room, laying on a small bed. His clothes had been replaced with pajamas. He got up to leave, but the door was locked from the outside. He could hear people on the other side of the door talking about him. Stating that is mental abilities were diminished and he was incapable of taking care of himself. Then he turned around and sat back on his bed. A few minutes later, his children came in a told him that he would be staying here now and that they would still visit him with the kids on the weekend like before. But for now he would have to stay here. The old man simply asked, “Why?” The children never answered his question. They simply turned around and left. He never did get his answer. The children still showed up on the weekend with their kids, but he just sat on his bed looking out the window, totally indifferent to their presence. They tried to talk to him, but he never said another word to them. He pretended that they did not exist. They stayed for a few minutes and then left. Eventually, they stopped coming altogether. He would sit there on his bed. He refused to eat, so they had to force-feed him. He kept growing weaker and thinner, until one day, he was dead.  At the funeral all of his old friends and relatives came to pay their respects and It was an elegant service, There was a large turnout, bigger that what the kids expected. Most of them knew the old man who sat on the park bench. He was always cheerful, and  would gladly talk to them if they stopped . Some of the young women stated that he always complimented them on their appearance was they walked passed. And that he would be missed. There were a number of them who asked how long his was sick. And the kids did not answer, because they knew why he died, He died of loneliness. Loneliness from his friends and relatives. Here they thought that he was lonely, found out that everyone knew him by sight with a cheerful word or two. Even the mayor of the city knew who he was. He had been a fixture at the park for a number of years. It was then decided by the city to put a statue of the man sitting on the park bench. On his favorite spot. When donations were requested, only one was made. Large enough to cover the entire cost. It was from his children to atone for their mistake.