The Elderly

I was thinking the other day, perhaps because it is coming closer to me as I have reached 40, that we need to respect our elders more. In some cultures, some Eastern (Chinese, for sure, and First Nations too), they have high respect for their elders and they have a significant place in that society. In ours, well we make jokes about, or we ignore and hide away the elderly. Often when we see an older person, we just see that. That they are old. We don't see into them, find out their character and personality, listen to their stories, learn from their wisdom. What treasures we have, that we have shrugged off as unimportant, worthless, garbage. What if we took time to sit with older people, learn from them and enjoy them?! How would our society change?! Especially our children. My daughter spends time weekly with an older lady through this intergenerational program. This will be such a valuable time in the formation of who she becomes. This woman has so much to share and give. I look into the future, when I am an old grey haired woman, hobbling along with my walker, but full of stories and experiences. Will I be regarded as worthless, or a treasure? I pray that some young person takes the time to sit with me, so that I may in turn speak into their life. I pray that they would be able to see past the wrinkles, droopy flesh and worn out bones, to see the real person inside. I was reading that the Israelites had an expression when describing a person. They would not just describe the outer physical qualities of a person. They would describe a person by what their "spirit" looks like. I love this concept! I think we need to adopt this in our physicality-obsessed world. I am not saying outer beauty is bad. I love physically beautiful people. But I love a beautiful spirit even more. And I have seen some old wrinkly people who are absolutely stunning!