I saw an elder today.  She was a little bent, looking down.  I stopped and said,  "Hello".  Her head came up.  She looked at me for recognition.   I smiled.  She smiled.

When did she begin looking down?  When she tripped on an uneven sidewalk?  When she no longer could see people's faces clearly?  When she looked at people's faces and no longer recognized any friends?  When no one noticed her?  When she became almost invisible?

Will I stop looking?  Will I become invisible to others?  I started becoming invisible in my forties.  It was a good thing.  I became invisible to young men. They ceased leering at me.  It was freedom from leering good stuff invisible.

I was invisible last week standing at the counter of Jack in the Box in Covington.  The teenagers next to me gave their order to a young man and he walked off.  A young woman came over and asked the same two teens if anyone had taken their order.  They said, "yes".  She turned away.  I loudly said,  "No one has taken my order."

She twisted around, glanced right and left, she could kind of see me. I'm here, the women with the gray hair and the grandson waiting in the booth he picked out. 

I've found bright colored clothing can help.  But its happening.  Do you see the elders out there?  Do you say hi?   Do you acknowledge their life, their wisdom?  Do you teach your teens to love us and honor us.  See me. See you.  See you someday.  See me now.