Great Grandma age 92, Spencer her Great Grandchild age 6 they adore each other.
As we grow older do our spirits age, our souls, do they grow old or just acquire wisdom? Wisdom is defined as The Understanding of what is true, right or lasting. In other cultures the elderly are revered for their wisdom they have obtained over years of life. The young go to them and seek their knowledge. In our culture we have no time for the elderly we want to take their driver’s license from them because they cannot keep our pace on the streets. We built homes for them to live together so we don’t have to change our lives and be inconvenienced by taking them in and caring for them. We put them in nursing homes, many times when they are not ill but should no longer live alone. We do not do what our grandparents did, take in grandparents and care for them. We are on the fast track of career, things, projects, goals and desires, we have no time to care for them. So we tuck them neatly away into nursing homes and visit on holidays.
What happened to respect for the wise? My Grandmother visits our home weekly she is 92 years old and lives in an apartment alone. My Dad brings her to the house because she can no longer drive, her sight has declined over the years, it was no longer safe for her. When she visits I have my four children and usually a few children I babysit. We all sit with her for snack time and I ask her about stories she remembers from when she was young. There is no subsitute for living history. My children adore her, value her and listen to her wisdom. I want to squeeze every ounce of her knowledge from her because I know one day she will pass on to the next world and I want to keep the spirit of her with my family.
Life is fast paced, hectic and all too full of important things we need to accomplish, it’s true that’s the world we exist in. Is anything more important than people? Do your children know their great grandparents? Have they heard the stories, the history and learned from the wisdom? If your grandparents have passed away tell them stories so they can learn to respect the elderly and learn where they have come from.
Try to cultivate a relationship with your children and their grandparents. Relationships are immeasurable and the influence they can have on your children’s life. Give your child the opportunity to learn from, to love, to respect and to seek the knowledge and wisdom of an older person, they will treasure it for a lifetime.
