Old people inspire me, in the same way some CFers inspire me, in the same way cancer survivors inspire me. Old people are LIFE survivors. After all of their experiences, heartache, illness, grief, hard learned lessons, they are ALIVE and thrilled to talk about it. Old people exhibit true wisdom, and they deserve respect.
I am currently taking a Gerontology course, the study of aging. Because I am so fascinated by it, I have been volunteering at a nursing home doing room visits and speaking with the elderly people who are patients there. Every week, I learn a new life lesson and gain a deeper respect for the lives older people live.
Last week I met a woman who had not only been in the Air Force in Canada but had also lost both her first husband and her first child. She told me how much she loves her children from her second marriage and how much you should appreciate your family. She told me to always listen to my parents, and I will get far in life. I’ll never forget that.
This woman’s roommate was from Poland. She had come to America when she was just sixteen and worked in a shop where she met her husband. She spoke in broken English about how amazing it is to be living in America and how much she loved her younger life. She told us to stay in school and work hard and we will do great things in our great country. I’ll never forget that.
Another woman has the most spunk I’ve ever seen. She wheels her wheelchair around the floor, telling my guy friends who visit with me how “good-lookin” they are and how she would have loved to have them in her prime. She wears lots of necklaces and bracelets and doesn’t like to be told what to do. Every time I have seen her she is smiling even when she can barely walk and only has a neice to visit her in the nursing home. She makes me want to live until I’m 100 just laughing and enjoying life.
You never realize the experiences older people have gone through until you stop to talk to them, to listen to their wisdom. People who have gone through tough things have a lot to teach the world, and it’s so valuable to just to listen. Those who go through tough times gain a sort of wisdom that isn’t usually gained until old age. I am lucky to have learned the lessons I have through my own fight. But I hope I can live a long, long life like the old people I have met, because they exhibit the unique type of wisdom that comes with age. And if I don’t make it to that old, old age, I hope I can continue to learn from the people who have, because they have so much to offer.
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