Caring for Your Grandparents

In primitive societies, the elderly were appreciated for their wisdom, knowledge of nature, healing plants, the way of collecting edible seeds, suitable places for hunting and so on.  Their advice was listened to and followed without question and they were the example for the younger ones.

As man has progressed in science and technology, society has gradually materialized losing the true values of life and the respect, love and care of our seniors.

We have assisted to the deterioration of the relationship between young and old for years now. Today, the life expectancy is high in all the developed countries. For example, men live for around 76 years in Japan and women for 81. This entails a great deal of families and the large number of people over 65 years ols that fill our cities.

If you have ever been to a nursing home, you will understand perfectly how much our moral values have deteriorated. When you enter the room where they spend their days, sometimes talking, sometimes watching TV and dozing most of their boredom, several pairs of eyes look at you with longing, no doubt with the illusion that you have come for some of your relatives. Then, some old lady comes to you and tries to make conversation and tells you, among other things, that their child does not come to visit very often, obviously because of their work.

When you start caring about their life, age, family and so on, their faces start to illuminate and they tell you all the details (if you remember them) of their past and, ultimately, their eyes fill with tears because they have several grandchildren that they have not seen for a long time, and besides, they should be home with their children. Then, they tell you that they are am treated very well there, that they care, that they are well fed, but you would not like to have to start talking about your children and grandchildren.

With the arrival of the holidays, they become desperate and people who are so sweet, so vulnerable, so selfless are abandoned, although they brought us to this world and made us grow and become more mature at the expense of tremendous personal sacrifices. However, people show their insensitivity and the lack of principles that corrodes our society of abundance.

Without doubt, we still have not realized that we too will be old, that we may leave when they are travelling or when they get tired of giving us a little love and understanding that is, after all, what everybody needs. You may not be just an old man sitting at their table on Christmas Eve. They do not have to see you as a tremendous burden.  They have to feel good about being good to you because, in the end, this is what makes them human beings. And, we are all human beings and this is what we need to do in order to become better and to be more highly appreciated.