Oldie but a goodie

Old people are important. I know that's an opening line rather out of left field. Although I could have written an even odder opening line. Something like: there is a shortage of dwarves in Mozambique. But while stranger, I have a feeling that somebody would get mad at me for saying dwarf and shortage in the same sentence. So that's why I went with the old people line. And while technically I don't know where the line is drawn between dwarves and pigmies, I yet to see one of either, leading to my conclusion that they are in short supply (look, I did it again).

But we're not talking about pygmies, we're talking about old people, which are many times short, but definitely not that short.

Old people are valued a lot here in this culture. They are in a lot of places. They are mostly very well respected and looked after. Some of that is just ingrained into taking care of the people that raised you and appreciating the wisdom and experience of your elders. A small part of that is worried that they will haunt you from beyond the grave. Most mostly, with this respect there are good connotations.

The elder generation merit some respect if, for nothing else, looking a horribly low (~42yrs) life expectancy in the face and keeping on living. If somebody makes it to about 60 years they become very respected. It's really a good thing, in my mind, the way the culture values these people and looks after them in their golden years.

That being said, not all people are so nice. As people get old, they can get cranky and, let's face it, mean. Some are more difficult to respect than others. There was one old widow that lives in our neighborhood came to us one day asking us to help clear up a confusion. It seems her neighbors all wanted to kill her and she had no idea why. We were pretty sympathetic until she took her cane leave and whacked a baby in the chest. This was a baby that was clearly learning to walk and happened to wander in front of her. Now we have a crying baby, a cursing grandmother, and more angry neighbors that want to kill her.

And while the elderly are well respected, they are often sometimes the easiest to victimize. There is an epidemic in the country right now that usually plays out in the following three steps:

Step 1: A person loses their job, becomes sick, has a bad crop, fails in school, gets robbed, beaten up, or a child dies.

Step 2: Blame their elderly parents, claiming they performed witchcraft to curse them.

Step 3: KILL THEIR FREAKING PARENTS!!!!

I'm not making this up. It's happening so much that president routinely takes time out during his speeches to condemn this practice. I can't say I've personally known somebody who was closely effected by this, but everyone I talk to has a classmate or coworker who lost their parent or grandparent or something of this sort.

So, if you are an elderly citizen of Mozambique, beware the next time that a nice strapping young man offers to help you cross the street, beware. He might in fact be helping you to the middle the the street to leave you to meet your end as a car hits you and avenges his stolen bicycle. Seriously. But only kind of. But seriously.