Getting To Know Guy

I NOTICED that there was an old guy, a new old guy, sitting alone at a round table in the corner. This happens often at the senior center; some senior sitting alone, though generally folks tend to clump up, cliquishly. This particular old guy started showing up every day, staying awhile, and always sitting at the same seat at the same table, drinking coffee until lunch, then, having lunch. he droves himself to the center, saying that he lives nearby. The second day I noticed that nobody had bothered to walk five feet to his table, introduce themselves, and welcome him to the senior center, which did not surprise me, since I recall receiving roughly similar treatment from many members upon my arrival, four years past. Angered me, but did not surprise me, having lived in the United States my entire life. Hell, how much effort would it take for just one or a couple of seniors sot sit down with him, for a few minutes, and chat? Americans can be friendly, but they can be cliquish, stand offish, you know how it is, if you're an American. No, American culture is not the friendliest, nor the most welcoming, in the world. It might not even be in the top ten, but then again, that's a matter of opinion, and another topic. I mentioned it to my fellow kitchen workers, that our mainstream members did not seem to be all that friendly to the new guy, and they agreed. I sat down at his table and introduced myself; his name was "Guy". He turned out to not be very talkative, with a soft hard to hear voice, and also very hard of hearing, so, conversation was a bit hampered, but not seriously so. He needs a hearing aid, but, who can afford one? I started getting in the habit of initiating conversations with him, and found, that like most average Americans, he prefers talking about himself. Nor does he initiate conversations, unless he has a question about the senior center or a piece of information to share about himself. He is looking for a place to live, and our society is starting to see the need for low income housing for seniors. He has been coming to the center for about a month, and the people there are no more friendly to him now than before, although to their credit they are neither hostile nor "unfriendly" to him either. They just kind of tend to ignore him. I have accepted the fact that they aint gonna change, not at their age, and that if guy ever wants to make friends, he had better initiate the process himself, the way I did, all those long years ago.