Donna 🇨🇦

My grandfather in Florida sits in an armchair for eighteen hours a day. He tells me he feels like a discarded ghost. In Tokyo, an 83-year-old retired carpenter stands at a four-lane crosswalk at 7:30 AM. Green volunteer sash. Bright yellow safety flag. At 7:40 AM, forty elementary school children turn the corner. They don't ignore him. They run toward him like he is a rock star. "Good morning, Grandpa Kenji!" "Look at my new eraser!" The old man beams with fierce, protective pride. He raises his yellow flag, steps into the road, halts three lanes of city traffic with one hand, and high-fives every single child as they cross safely. In America, we put our elderly away in facilities to die of loneliness. In Japan, we put a flag in their hands and make them the guardians of the future. He doesn't have an empty life. He has forty reasons to wake up before dawn.