There is always that initial awkward tension when you are thrown in a van with a bunch of people you are not familiar with, especially when you are running late and everyone is waiting on you. This tension quickly disappeared though and we began to talk and bond. We decided to stop in Columbia, MO to visit the Mizzou campus. The visit lasted longer than we wanted but it was still nice to see the campus and eat at a local sports bar and grill. I am still jealous they have a Chipotle right along campus. When we finally arrived in Nashville, TN it was already starting to get dark so the place we were staying at looked creepy and haunted from the outside. The building was the former Lighthouse Preschool that was turned into the Southeast Nashville Flood Recovery Center after the massive destruction of the flood back in May of 2010. We struggled to open the doors and entered a dark creepy hallway. We were unsure of what to do or where to go until we heard the noise of a man rushing down the stairs. Initially frightened, we stood in place and out came a tall man with long hair named Larry, who was the building manager. Although he did not look entirely too welcoming, he was extremely nice and showed us around to the bedroom, kitchen, and bathrooms. I am saddened by the fact that I will never be able to fully explain to others just how awesome Larry was.
The next morning we arrived at the main Fifty Forward site in Knowles. We were amazed by how big and beautiful the building was. Everything was nice and clean, this was not exactly what we were expecting. Deborah, the program director, greeted us and gave us instructions for our first task. We helped set up the tables and served drinks, soup, and desert for their “First Monday Lunch”. The lunch was one of the many activities available to Fifty Forward members, who are those individuals fifty years and older seeking to lead more fulfilling lives. The lunch was sponsored by Dr. Jeffrey Horn, an eye doctor, who gave a presentation and all the soup and desert was prepared by Deborah herself. Dr. Horn talked to the elderly crowd about cataract surgery. He wanted to perform surgeries on those individuals with cataracts, who were mostly elders, by replacing their lenses. Someone asked about a different eye doctor in the area who was advertising a new laser surgery technique. Dr. Horn, obviously wanting to promote his own work and not bash the other doctor, simply said, “I don’t need a laser”. It was obvious he sponsored the lunch and presented so that he could potentially get more patients. It was a smart business move, for sure. After lunch, we finally got to interact with some of the elderly members and I met some interesting people. There was an elderly black woman who said something to me that stuck. She could tell I was a minority and asked if I could speak another language. I said that I used to be able to speak Urdu, the language my parents speak at home, but since I have been in college and not home for awhile, I slowly started to lose the language. She then told me to hurry home and went on to talk about how important knowing other languages is in today’s world and how she knew several languages including Japanese. There was another elderly Pilipino lady who told me about how she traveled the world. She hiked the Himalayas, ran a 5k marathon, and went to three Olympics. Her adventures, which were still continuing even at her age, inspired and motivated me.
Later in the afternoon we were instructed by the Fifty Forward division “Living At Home” to go to Mrs. Jones’ home and help clear out her living room. When we arrived, we could barely walk around because her living room was so full of stuff. She had all sorts of random things but most of them were cooking related gadgets, utensils, or cooking books. I could tell she loves to cook but was a little sad to part with all of these items because she was getting too old to continue cooking. We separated things we could donate to the Salvation Army with trash that we threw out. A lot of the things had rat droppings on them or were too dirty to donate. One thing that Mrs. Jones said stuck with me. When we put one of her old walkers in the donation pile, she made it completely clear to us she wanted the walker to be donated for free. She said that she wanted to give it to someone else who was elderly that really needed it. This selfless act of gratitude, especially when she was not living in very good conditions herself, inspired me.
-Yasser Hassan
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