Elderly People

There is a huge segment of our culture that often get overlooked and ignored. The often have wrinkles, gray hair and they move a bit slow. I do not intend my description be negative or derogatory. I’m simply stating the facts that there are elderly people around and I’m soon becoming one of them. In fact every person I know is older today than they were yesterday. (duh!) I think our culture could benefit from some of the instructions that Paul gives to Timothy. Check this out…

I remember that I used to think my parents were old even when I was twenty one. The fact is that “old” is a relative term. The 90-year-old man is old compared to an 80-year-old man. To a 15 year old kid, they are all old – including me at 52 (for now)!

I think elderly people are great, especially when they have a sense of humor. I’ve started working on my sense of humor so that when I’m old, I won’t be impatient and grouchy. I want to be full of life, funny and witty. I also want to be profoundly wise as an “old elderly man”, if I can live that long.

One of the reason, I think I should treat our elderly people with respect is that it’s honorable. One day if I live long enough, I’ll be and elderly man too. Another important reason to show respect for the elderly is that we’re standing on their shoulders to do the things we do today. They paved the way for the amazing country we live in and the lifestyle we enjoy.  In fact some of the elderly people in our culture created and invented things that our smart phones do for us today. 

I think Paul’s advice to treat older men as Dad and older women as Mom is brilliant and needed. I actually believe the one that gets blessed the most when I do this is me!