教会やボランティア活動をするに当たって、最近は本当に年配の方と知り合いになることが多くなった。私よりもずっと年上の人たちで、いわゆる後期高齢者の方々だ。私の親と同じような年代になるかと思うが、皆さんお元気で、話をしていてもしっかりしていらっしゃる。
　日本人の寿命は延びてきていると聞いているが、健康寿命という観点も含めて、延びていると実感する。昔のお年寄りは、これほど達者ではなかったのではないか。よく憶えていないが、私の中で随分と高齢者に対するイメージが変わってきた。まぁ、私自身が高齢者に近くなってきて、身近に感じられるようになってきたということだろう。

　能登半島地震で被災し、避難所生活を余儀なくされている高齢者の方たちがいる。彼らがテレビニュースのインタビューに答えている様子を見ていると涙が出てくる。「周りの人たちに支えられて感謝している」や「何とか頑張る」などと答えているシーンは本当に深いものを感じる。
　若者が同じことを言ったとしても、響き方が違うように思う。あの方たちがどんな人生を過ごしてきたのかなど分かるはずもないが、長く生きてきたということは、それだけで尊敬に値するように感じる。楽なことばかりではなかっただろうし、人生の終盤を迎え、このような災害に巻き込まれてしまった。それでもなお、生き延びられたことに感謝し、助けてくれる人々に感謝し、そして前を向こうとしていらっしゃる。実際はそういう方ばかりではなく、テレビだから良いコメントだけを拾っている可能性はもちろん高いが、一人でも前向きな方がいると思うと、歳を重ねることの尊さに気づかされる。素直に見習いたいと思う。

　50歳になるときに私の出身高校で同窓会のようなイベントがあり、参加した。学校が主催したイベントで、卒業生だけでなく当時の懐かしい先生方にも来てもらい、授業をしてもらうというプログラムが用意されていた。当日、いよいよその懐かしい先生の授業が始まり、先生の第一声が発せられた。「みんな、よく生きていたな」と先生はおっしゃった。
　まだ50歳だ。死ぬような歳ではない。「死」はまだ意識できていなく、当時はもっと遠いものだと思っていた。しかし実際、病気や事故など様々な原因で、すでに命を落としている人もいる。先生はすでに後期高齢者だったから、そういう言葉が出てきたのかもしれないが、いや、自分のことではなく、我々卒業生のことを思い、そういうセリフになったのだと思う。予想もしていない言葉で不意を突かれたせいか、涙がボッと噴き出した。

　歳を取ってきたからこそ、理解できる気持ちというものはある。生きて、それだけいろんな経験を積んできたということだ。いつの間にか私は年配の方々への尊敬を忘れていたように思う。どこかで若い人に基準を合わせ、若い人の流行に乗り遅れないように、無理して頑張っていた部分があった。時代に置いてきぼりにされることが恐かった。そうすることで歳を取ることに抵抗していたのかもしれない。
　何故だか最近は、私の中で若い人よりお年寄りの方に惹かれる傾向がある。単純に学ぶことが多い。いよいよ私も、お年寄りの仲間入りかもしれない。

　皆さん、長生きして欲しい

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The Wonder of Aging

　In my church and volunteer work, I have been getting to know a lot of really old people lately. They are much older than I am, and are what you might call “late-elderly” people. They are all in good health and seem to be in good spirits when I talk with them.
　I have heard that the life expectancy of Japanese people has been increasing, and I feel that it is also increasing in terms of healthy life expectancy. I think that elderly people in the past were not as proficient as this. I don’t remember much, but my image of the elderly has changed a lot. Well, I guess I am getting closer to the elderly and feel closer to them.

　There are elderly people who were affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake and are forced to live in evacuation centers. Watching them being interviewed on TV news brought tears to my eyes. I feel something really deep when they say things like, “I am grateful for the support of the people around me,” or “I will do my best somehow.
　Even if young people said the same thing, it seems to resonate differently. There is no way to know what kind of life those people have lived, but I feel that the fact that they have lived for a long time is worthy of respect in itself. It must not have been all easy, and they were caught up in such a disaster at the end of their lives. But you are still grateful to have survived, grateful to the people who helped you, and looking forward to the future. Of course, not all of them are like that, and it is highly possible that TV crews are only picking up good comments because it is on TV, but to think that there is even one person who is positive makes me realize how precious it is to grow old. I honestly want to learn from them.

　When I turned 50, my old high school had a reunion-like event that I attended. The event was organized by the school, and a program was prepared in which not only alumni but also nostalgic teachers from those days came and gave classes. On the day of the event, the class by the old teacher finally started, and the teacher’s first words were uttered. You all have lived well,” he said.
　You are still 50 years old. Not old enough to die. I was not yet aware of death, and at the time, I thought it was something much more distant. In fact, however, some people have already lost their lives due to various causes, such as illness and accidents. Perhaps those words came out because the teacher was already in his later years, but no, I think he thought of us graduates, not himself, and came up with those lines. Perhaps because I was caught off guard by the unexpected words, tears started to bubbling up.

　There are some feelings that you can understand now that you are older. You have lived and experienced so many things in your life. Somewhere along the way, I seem to have forgotten how to respect older people. Somewhere along the way, I had set the standards for the younger generation and tried my best not to fall behind the trends of the younger generation. I was afraid of being left behind by the times. Perhaps by doing so, I was resisting getting older.
　For some reason, these days, I tend to be more attracted to older people than younger people. I simply have a lot to learn. I may finally be joining the ranks of the elderly.

　I hope you all live long!