The Silence of the Elderly

"Everything is fine with me."

That's how my mother answers. She is 90 years old. A Holocaust survivor.

I asked her permission to write about how she lives. She said: "Igor, there's no need, everything is fine with me. In other countries, it's worse."

I know this sentence. Thousands of elderly people in Israel say it. They say it when waiting years for a solution that never comes.

"Everything is fine with me" means: "I will not ask."

Alexander Berman, president of the "Honor Front" movement, reached out to Civil Compass. He shared what our elderly will not say out loud. About help that doesn't arrive. About problems that go unsolved for years. About politicians who arrive before elections with promises and disappear after them.

My mother still travels, organizes people, helps others. When she was a Pioneer leader, the children wrote a song about her:

"Everything is possible if you just want it,

You can build a power station on a suitcase,

With immense power it will be,

If we harness all the energy..."

She still has energy to this day. But there are things she stays silent about. And she is not the only one.

Those who survived the Holocaust do not need to stay silent to keep their dignity. Not in Israel.

We have no right to wait until they scream. In a few more years, there won't be anyone left to scream.

I ask for one thing. Read Alexander Berman's appeal. If you agree, sign it.

For those who said "Everything is fine with me" for too long.

Mom, I am proud of you.

When the elderly are silent, we, their children, have a voice.

Dr. Gutnick, Civil Compass

https://www.amechad.info/knesset?inquiryLang=h

e#inquiry-ta95b8hurog5x8v0efgcewt0/