A Celestial Visitor

One evening at dusk, I had fallen asleep listening to music on YouTube. Suddenly, a noise awakened me. In the gloom, I thought I saw an apparition.Was I sleeping, or was I awake?

Who's there? I cried out in fear.

There was no answer. I repeated my query.

Who are you? What do you want? Are you a robber?

Without answering, the apparition glided out of the shadows and stood before me.

I was flabbergasted!~The ghost, if that's what it was, looked familiar.

I've seen you before, I said, but you died more than a hundred years ago. Are you Giuseppe Verdi?

Yes, in my brief sojourn on Earth that is what they called me, the ghost replied in a cold voice that sent chills down my spine.

I like your music, but what do you want with me?

You should know the answer to that question because you summoned me.

I most certainly did not, I objected.

In your subconscious, you did, or your daemon did. The subconscious is much stronger than our conscious mind. Like an iceberg, nine-tenths of it is below the surface. The great Sigmund Freud proved that without a doubt.

Yes, but I still don't understand.

You are thinking of starting a so-called blog, but you believe that your age is against you.

Yes, that’s true. Even my wife told me to act my age.

You have succumbed to ageism, which is a deep-seated prejudice of your modern society that old people are useless. Your subconscious mind rebelled against this unfair and repulsive thought and conjured me up as a living example that this prejudice isn’t true.

Yes, in your old age, you wrote your two greatest operas, Otello and Falstaff.

After Aida, which I wrote in 1867 for the opening of the Suez canal, I went on a twenty-year vacation. Everyone said I was all washed up and would never write anything great again.

But you proved them wrong, didn’t you? You wrote Otello when you were in your mid-seventies and Falstaff when you were eighty.

Yes, critics now say these are my two finest works. My creative powers had never died out, but they needed a spark to ignite the flame. Arigo Boito, a fine poet, who became my librettist, provided the spark by inspiring me to set to music two of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, Othello and Merry Wives of Windsor, which became Falstaff.

You demonstrated that experience can top youth.

That is why you summoned me. You wish to take inspiration from my example. You could have conjured up many other octogenarians who astounded the world, such as Titian and Picasso, who painted well into their nineties and great conductors like Arturo Toscanini and Herbert von Karajan.

And performing artists like Paderewski and Pablo Casals, I added.

People are apt to dismiss these examples by declaring them exceptions to the rule. While the vast majority of people are not geniuses, the elderly, with their long experience and wisdom are a precious asset rather than a liability. Every old person has a fund of knowledge that can be transmitted to the next generation. This was much easier in my time when families lived together, and the elderly were not put away in old-age homes, which you call nursing homes to assuage your conscience.

Yes, I think this is very unfair. Our culture sends a clear message that old age is something shameful, and old people are useless eaters.

Is this what you wanted to write about on your blog?

Exactly. In the coming decades, western societies are going to be faced with a tsunami of old people. We are going to have to adjust our social institutions to care for them. I wish to address the problem of ageism and ageism and combat stereotypes related thereto. With the high costs of medical care in our societies, one of the main foci of the blog will be medical tourism. I will speak mostly about countries with which I am personally familiar, Cyprus, Poland, and Malta, perhaps Israel. Another area is long-term care of the elderly. Nearly three-quarters of persons who reach advanced age are going to require around-the-clock care. Should we consider the possibility of sending such persons to countries that can provide quality care at a reasonable cost?

Your subject matter is as wide and long as the Nile.

I know that I can only scratch the surface, but in the forum of my blog, I am going to ask people to share their knowledge and experience. Hopefully, from this discussion, some specific practical actions may be proposed.

Do not flag. You may count on me to encourage you in this endeavor.

Thank you, I appreciate… What?!

Someone started shaking me.

Don’t sleep here. Wake up and go to bed. You were mumbling something about your blog. I said that no good would come of it,” said a harsh voice that belonged to my wife.