An elderly sister told me of the time a life assurance man called on her. She said to him, "but I am not going to die." He nearly fell over backwards when she said that.
She died some years ago.
She had no retirement plan but had been helpful throughout her life to many. Somehow she managed. But I watched out of her window as pioneer after pioneer walked passed her window because she was not someone they were looking to date. She was old, was no good for gossip or having a laugh. Worse still, she was baptised so you couldn't count your time with her.
An elder, not known for being thoughtful, did one kind act. He told his children they could count their time with her. Suddenly she had more visitors.
If it was WT policy to care for elderly ones, not one of them would be without care - the younger ones would rally round but they are discouraged from doing so. After all, someone's got to spend hours next to a literature trolley being ignored by the public, haven't they? Otherwise all the homeless people would wonder where their day-time companions had gone.
