Old age is neither intrusive, pushy nor loud. It hides in corners, in loneliness, a sense of helplessness and, not infrequently, harm. It is tragic in dimension, coloured by sadness and greyness...
The measure of the level of civilisation and social culture is the attitude towards an old, infirm and helpless person. The Chinese, proud of 6,000 years of experience and the original philosophy of the peoples of the East, will surely remain masters in this respect. Our European, and especially Polish, backyard is governed by decidedly different rules. The Areopagus of the ancient and, in its own way, democratic elders of Athens would be devastated to see the areas of poverty and the dramatic fate of contemporary Poles in the Year of Our Lord 1994.
Truisms? Of course, but this serves as an invocation to a description of the activities of the Polish Association of Pensioners and Disability Pensioners, an Association of Higher Public Benefit in Bolesławiec. We speak with its president, Mr Józef KRZOS, in a cramped room (a study, an office?) half-filled with old, used but still useful clothing, donated in a heartfelt gesture by elderly people to others in need, who cannot afford to buy new clothes from their meagre disability and retirement pensions. This is no exaggeration; I can offer an example. Not long ago, an elderly female pensioner came to the office wearing poor summer clothing. She lives on a pension of one million fifty thousand zlotys, barely making ends meet. From the pile of clothes, she chose a reasonably decent winter coat. The woman burst into tears; she would no longer be cold, because winter and chill were outside the windows... Such is the contemporary measure of human happiness in the “golden (?) autumn of life”...
We must respond with sympathy, admiration and respect to the Association’s social initiatives: these people are not fighting for money; instead, they are selfless altruists, bringing hope of survival and assistance to poor and lonely people. Here, one can receive a used television free of charge, left behind by someone who bought new equipment (several dozen cases); today many people are asking about chairs – perhaps some furniture shop will take on the role of sponsor? We will gladly record every sign of goodwill and human gesture of kindness.
The president speaks of more than 2,200 members whom the Association helps from their own contributions, organising cultural and entertainment events and trips. Sixty people received clothing; large groups travelled last year to Licheń near Konin (a place of Marian worship), Trzebnica and the mountains, and visited the Rotunda with the Racławice Panorama in Wrocław. Some take part in meetings and dance evenings; many received symbolic allowances and occasional parcels. But even ordinary visits and conversations matter: contact with another kind-hearted person. Worth their weight, if not in gold then in health, are the selfless medical consultations provided by Dr Zbigniew Babijczuk, who refuses help to no one. More than one hundred people went to sanatoriums in 1993; the Association provides those interested with discounted tickets and, importantly, does not pay tax for the premises it uses, thanks to the goodwill of the city authorities.
“Our visits to sick and lonely people can be sad,” the president says. “But that is what they expect from us. We meet with people with disabilities; we held a conversation with 80-year-olds; we are a family united in poverty, and we need one another. Instead of nostalgia, we offer each other memories of rebuilding and working for the city. I experienced the greatest satisfaction recently, when a group of Germans who had lived here after the war expressed undisguised admiration and praise for the beauty of the town on the Bóbr. They claimed that they did not remember Bolesławiec from their youth as so beautiful and developed, yet so well-kept. This brings great personal satisfaction: we have not wasted our lives, leaving something behind for our descendants. And the fact that the ‘golden autumn’ remains grey and sad? Well, we do not give in; we count on the help of kind-hearted people. Our address: 26 Piłsudski Square.”