R-E-S-P-E-C-T

One shocking trend I have noticed among youths and young adults today, is that their respect and tolerance for older people is almost non-existent. It's not just the fact that crimes against the elderly committed by young people (ages 16-25) is up, but the startling fact that no one seems to care is what is what is really shocking to me. And even when they're not having violent crimes committed against them, they're still ridiculed, ignored, harassed, called slow-moving and out of touch, and just plain disrespected for no reason at all.

It's really disturbing to me that some of the most valuable members of our society are treated as though they're nothing. Older people have so much to tell and show the younger generations. They have lived through so much and they can teach us a lot if we'll only listen. You know they saw that everytime an elderly person dies, a library burns. They have a wealth of information and knowledge, but usually no one sees that until it's too late. Having lived through so many changing times and dynamics in history, they can teach us a lot about persistence and determination. They might not work now, but they were once the workforce and driving force behind the economy and we owe them respect for that too.

I volunteered at an adult day care center (a place where people who work and have older parents drop them off to be looked after because they can't be alone at home. when their children get done working they come back and pick them up at the end of the day) when I was in high school and the stories that the older people shared with me were amazing. We had three people there in mid 90's and one who was 102! I had one lady tell me how her and her family re-located to Florida during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's, another guy who was related to Al Capone shared with me some of his conversations with the famous mobster, the 102 year old man told about what it was like to read about the Titanic the next day in New York, one lady had fled Germany during the Holocaust. To hear them talk about stuff I can only read about was absolutely phenomenal to me.

I just hope that young people and America in general, realizes the priceless gift we have in 'old' people and start taking better care of them and treating them right.