Respect you elders." This statement may seem all too familiar, but is it really being followed these days? Every day as I flip through the television, I witness discrimination against the old and wise. Frequently on television sitcoms I notice a false portrayal of old people as being boring and in poor health. The audience laughs as a teenager yells words at a grandmother whose hearing is failing or a grandfather having trouble finding his false teeth. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I'm not laughing.
Just like us, our elders were once young. They have memories of different fads, their first job, their first love, mistakes they've made, things they've discovered...my point is, they have stories to tell and things to teach us. They've lived through things that we ourselves can hardly imagine. Wars. Depressions. Life without computers or cellphones. They've lived through history. They're amazingly strong, intelligent, and interesting human beings who have gone through real experiences.
Many lessons are taught to us when we are young. These are those lessons that should stay with us for life. However, as we advance into young age, we often forget these very basic lessons. One such lesson that is always taught to young kids and which they often forget when they grow old is- respect your elders. When you were young, your parents, guardians and teachers must have repeated to you ever and anon that you must respect your elders. The lesson must have percolated into the unconscious minds of some of us and skipped that of others. This explains much of why some people from the young generation do not respect their elders. Always respect your elders. When we are in a social gathering there are many small things that we do consciously or unconsciously which speak a lot about us. While in a social setup when you disrespect someone elderly, apart from hurting the sentiments of the old person, you also establish yourself as an