What an honour !

I know of this elderly man, R from my work contact.



He will be 80 years-old next month. Over the years, he had shared with me his life story. From which I saw the determination, strenght & resilence of human being.



R used to a top executive from a pharmaceutical company. He retired with a shop @ Alphefi and a private house. But all his money & properties were swindled by his own daughter some 20 years ago. He has 8 children, 4 are not in contact with him due to strained relationship. He now lives with 4 others who are all on psychiatric follow-up. They seems to inherit the poor genes from R's wife.



Now the 4 children (all in their 40's & 50's) & the elderly couple are living in a flat with huge mortgage loan. They are living on the limited allowance from the government.



Three days ago R saw me, he talked about his worry - what will happen to his wife & 2 children when he is unable to look fater them. Presently the man is seeing to all the aspects of the other 5 members - from cooking, washing to accompanying them for their various medical appointments.



He told me that he had left words with his family to come to me in the event he passed on because he is very sure that I would know what to do & would definitely help his family. R has trusted me a great deal, I was very touched & honestly a little overwhelmed by it. He has known the other people who are in the helping profession , who would be willing to help him to sort out the care arrangment of his loved ones when he is not around. Yet he placed his total trust on me - someone whom he sees 3-4 time per years over the past 9 years.



I tried to assured R I would do my best if he would to tell me what kind of care arrangement he wish for his wife & children. He went on to express his gratitude by wanting to repay me in his next life (if there is any) but I stopped him to say anymore of his gratitude. I noted tears in his eyes. I was on the verge of tearing too - overwhelmed by R's trust.

Upon reflection, I think I was fearful of not being able to meet up with R's trust. In the event of R's demise, he has his wife & other 4 children (who are supposedly to be mentally ok) to make decisions. I'm not blood relation, how much power do I have??

At the end of the day, I decided to get R to write down his thoughts & what he has in mind as care arrnagment for his wife & 4 children. Whether I am able to really execute his last wish, I don't know. But what I decided to do is to try. The end result may not be what R or I originally discussed, at least I will try. At least I won't not have any regrets and the elderly man can have peace of mind in his last remaining days in his otherwise 'tough' life.