Editorial Ta Nea: Assistance

The pictures of elderly people queuing up outside of banks is disheartening not only for them but for society.

Senior citizens have set behavioural patterns that are difficult to break, such as visits to banks to update their account booklets, a habit that to the rest of us seems antiquated.

They sometimes harbour anxieties and fears that do not always seem logical and at times they can behave like small children.

That is why the rest of us have a duty to assist them in their daily lives.

Their children, relatives, and neighbours can and should help out.

Their often arduous efforts to perform their routine chores must not be undermined by their being in places where others unavoidably gather and pose a serious health hazard for them during this pandemic.

Offering assistance to senior citizens is an integral part of the collective effort that must made by the overwhelming majority in order to weather this deadly pandemic.

It is a shining example of social solidarity.

Solidarity is not a matter that concerns only the pinnacle of the social pyramid – the  state.

It concerns each of us and our milieu.

It should be expressed in the small and big things in daily life by the stronger to the weaker, by the haves to the have-nots, and of course by the youth to the elderly.