Respecting Our Elders
These lessons start at home. Life is busy and no one seems to have time to spend with anyone, especially our grandparents. When we neglect them our children see this and learn from it. Attitudes, behavior and non-spoken words speak louder than anything we say. They learn best by our example.
Kids need to understand that aging is a part of life. If we are lucky we will all be there someday. Hopefully someone will show us kindness when we are slow, cranky and can’t remember so good.
The people that live the longest, healthiest and most fruitful lives are the ones that still have a purpose in life. Having a vocation and feeling like a worthy part of society is important to us all. Sitting in a home with nothing to do but watch the hours tick by is depressing.
Some cultures look up to their aging family members and hold them in high regard. It is due to our elders that we are here; they gave birth to us, fed and clothed us and made sure we were taken care of, now it is our responsibility to return the favor.
Our elders have lived through a lifetime of experiences and can give good advice if we just take the time to listen.
My mother's parents are gone and I think of them often. My Papa had a quirky sense of humor and my Grandma was a happy round woman that loved to cook and laughed a lot.
My father's parents are still living and doing well.
Knowing our grandparents helps us understand why we are the way we are. Sometimes we're more like them than we are our mom and dad.
Modern life has brought us many good things but we have forgotten a lot of important ones. Not taking care of our elders is costing our country a lot of money. When seniors are put in a home and forgotten their health suffers and in turn medical cost goes up. Nurses and underpaid workers will never care about our family as much as we do.
In my family, we visit elderly family members and even their friends. My kids accompany us on these trips and they always learn something.
There is a young man on Youtube that has made his grandmother a celebrity. He interviewed and taped her talking about the great depression and cooking food from that era. They even put out a cookbook. In the early videos she is 91, the later ones she is 94. I think it is really sweet that he had so much love for his granny he made these films and highlighted her wisdom. After she’s gone these videos will be a family treasure.
I love Clara’s videos and I think you will too.
I read a great article by Lady Jane about how young people today don’t have respect for senior citizens like we did in the past. Her story made me think about why this happens.
Here's her article if you have a chance you should read it.
- Why Has the Elderly Lost Society's Respect?
"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be."-- Robert Browning I remember when the elderly in our society were well respected. When people held doors open for older people and when senior citizens...