Shlomo Shaul

I’m not sure, I think it was in my late forties that I started noticing old people. My parents were in their mid-70s, some of my friends’ parents were even older. They were getting old. And I didn’t like what I saw. Slowly words like unkempt, insecure, dilapidated, isolated, resignation, dreariness, were entering my thoughts more and more frequently.

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I realized it wasn’t their fault, old age had stealthily overcome them. It grew on them. It was a slow, unnoticeable transition. And it was too late. They had no one to warn them, no instructions, no old-age manual.

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Not me! I was not going to succumb unawares.

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I started writing myself, actually my future self, pointers, instructions, reminders. At some point I started calling them my 10 commandments for old age. And that’s the way it stayed, for many years, till I had another brilliant idea: I would turn my commandments into a book.