Love and Respect the Elderly

No respect! People no longer have respect for old folks. It pains me to see the way society treats old people now and how they cast them aside. Long ago, the elderly were treated  like royalty. They were the ones from whom we sought advice, the ones to whom everyone listened. Now, no one listens to older folks and everyone seems to have no respect for them. It pains me to see how children cast out their parents and how little respect they hold for them. The old folks are like priceless gems. The problem here is that we don’t see it. Maybe I might not have seen it too. However, I was given the wonderful opportunity to know my grandfather but, sadly, I have lost him (only in the physical sense though). Losing him taught me how much to appreciate life and how much I should cherish those that I do have now.

He always said: “You never miss the water till the well runs dry.” There is nothing in this world that holds more truth than this statement. Too often we take things for granted, too often we take our grandparents for granted and even old Mr Joe from “down de road.” It is only when they are gone that we appreciate who they were and it is then we say “oh how I wish my granny or my granddad were here to give me some advice.” I know this may sound sentimental, but if children, grandchildren and youths as a whole were listening to the older folks, I am certain some of the deviant behaviour now being experienced would be reduced.

You see, old people always give advice from experience and believe me they have a wealth of experience. And what confuses me most about the youth population is the fact that they would appreciate advice from a peer rather than a grandparent. Why? Think about it.  Would a grandparent want to lead you astray? My grandfather always encouraged me to do the right thing. Although he never had much of an education (though he claimed that he attended ten different schools), he was a brilliant man. Even now, as I type, I can hear his warm voice telling me: “doh study boy, study yuh book, and make yuh mother and father proud.” He was also very insistent when it came to me saving my money for “hard times.”

I cherish everything I did with my grandfather and for him, and how much I would give to feed him one last time or just to sit and talk with him  one last time. I cherish every conversation and every day we went to the open lot three houses away from me to plant cassava or corn. He would eat brown sugar before he planted and being the annoying little being that I was (some may claim that I still am), I questioned him as to why he was doing it. He said: “that is so when I sweat, it will be sweet and when it falls on the dirt, the corn will absorb it and the corn will be sweet.” You see? – a wealth of knowledge.

What I am trying to tell you is even if you do not see the importance of old people now, even if you think they are annoying and a burden, please think again. Casting them aside will only lead you to have regrets later down the road and deep deep sorrow because you never appreciated them. I firmly believe that it is time we start seeing the elderly as gems with great knowledge to impart and with life lessons. Respect for the elderly holds great rewards.