The Great Divide
2004-02-14 @ 5:52 p.m.
I don't usually eat at McDonalds, but I was in the mood for a particularly runny hot fudge sundae, so I decided to go.
I was sitting with my boyfriend,at one of the greasy tables, and i noticed a women who was probably about 70, taking out the trash, with her purple McDonalds shirt on
and something about her made me want to cry.
If you think about this women, and the ideals of her generation - especially where women are concerned, you will realize that things have changed so much
Women today work the same amount as the men for the most part, and the raising of the kids, and the making of the dinner - has actually become a 50/50 sort of thing - in very modern household.
I wonder if this women feels lost in the world now. Maybe her kids are grown, and have a really important life of their own, and maybe her husband - Claude, died 5 years ago, leaving her unable to pay any bills - since she relied on him all her life. And not in a "repressed women" sort of way - just in a content and unaware sort of way.
So this lady, is forced to leave the home she has lived in for the past 27 years, and move into a retirement home that smells like split pea soup, where the walls are decorated with pictures of cats and gardens, and she has a shelf that holds all of her earthly possessions, her knicks knacks, and her husbands medals, and the holy bible.
She keeps this place spotless - in her normal manner, and her kids and grandchildren come to visit her 3 times a year, on Christmas, on her birthday - and when she's lucky.
This lady isn't particularly lonley - she has bingo on tuesdays and watches her soaps in the afternoon, but she isn't exactly content either. So she decides to do what she loves, and that is take care of people.
Maybe she thinks she can get a job at a restuarant. So she tries it out thinking how hard can it be - i've served people all of my life - but soon comes to realize that her arthritis won't permit her to carry such heavy trays, so she is queitly asked to leave, by her manager, a boy named Jim - no older than her grandson.
Where does she go next? Mcdonalds. They will hire anyone to do the dirty work, and she is fine with that because she just wants to do something.
So she wipes the tables with care, and cleans up the napkins and ketchup area. Noone really notices her, noone really thanks her, and noone would ever dare to think that this old women has a whole life that is now gone. And she is alone.
and so while Josh ate his french fries, and i finished up my sundae, and went to throw it away, I became awkward and afraid of crying as i got closer to this old woman.
I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to tell her I was sorry. I'm not sure what for.
Instead I smiled akwardly - and we left.