How do I feel about old people?

I think Old people have still so much to live. Most people sees them as our past but they could also be our future. It is because elders do not participate in our lives as much. They are kept away from us by us, and they keep themselves that way. I also think old people have so much to offer. They have experienced so much in their lives and their words can guide us out of problems they have seen before. Even though I do think that their advice might not work because of the generation gap, it can still be applied to our lives. Regardless if the person is wise or not they still contribute to the 6.8 billion opinions in the world, somebody will listen to that person thinking he or she is right. Most of us do not bother to know beyond more what is communicated about old people. We believe that the information we receive about them is enough to have them participate in our lives time to time. In our culture it is believed that we do not need old people to live, therefore there is no need to include them.


Media communicates four different types of old people and how they relate to the youth. As discussed in Life Doesn't have to be meaningless class, these tropes are:
- The old wise person that passes wisdom to the youth.
- The wise old person that talks to the resistant youngster who refuses to listen.
- The old person that tries to give wisdom but the young person refuses it, and later he goes back to that old person recognizing he was right.
-The old person who talks nonsense, and the young person avoids his words.

These tropes are seen mostly in movies and most people believe old people do fit in any of these categories. It is normal for us to categorize others, and if these categories are even brought to us then we cannot avoid using them. We have the need to somehow separate ourselves from others. Raze in not enough, culture is not enough, therefore, age must be also used. We give each other our place in life and we are expected to behave according to it. Otherwise it would be considered as rebellion.


I never considered the fact that most young people have no contact with old people. Other than their grandparents, old people are not out there in their lives. This supports my idea on our culture not needing old people to live. We tend not to form bonds with old people for different reasons. It could be that because of the lack of exposure we have to them or they to us. Or because we cannot relate sufficiently due to our backgrounds in society. I think it is because we learn not to relate to them. The opposite of old is young, and opposites tend to avoid one another. We consider ourselves to be so much more different than the elders, not only physically but mentally, even though we are all human beings. Our culture communicates that being old is actually a negative thing. Most people do not wish to become old, even though it is inevitable. We are too afraid of accepting this fact, that we do not even attempt to relate to it.
People also think that the life of an elder is boring, meanwhile they are working hard most of the time so that when they retire thay can finally have the life of their dreams.


If the ideal that we now have about old people changes then we would include them more in our lives. In other words, if we are communicated that old people do contribute to society then we would not see them as useless human beings taking up space in the planet. Most elders feel so distant from us because we keep on reminding them the burden they are in our lives. At one point our old parents are not our parents any longer, they are people we must look after because of their incapability to live normally. We enforce our own fear of becoming older. In my opinion loneliness is the worse feeling in the world, the feeling of not being needed by anyone, is like being dead. Of course most old people only wait to die and feel resigned, they feel that they cannot do anything to contribute.

I too personally used to feel afraid of getting old. I used to think that I was not going to be able to do what I can do now. This thought by itself disempowered me to live now. why should I be afraid of my certain future? After interviewing old people I came to realize that being old is part of life, and I can still contribute to the world at that age. Many young people today are not effective. They are born, they grow up, they reproduce, and they die. Having children becomes the biggest accomplishment in their lives. Sadly in this world we cannot afford to live simply live like that. We most work hard in order to achieve mayor goals and be effective. However, we must also be aware that the only time we have to live is now. Elders suggest future generations to live every moment as best as possible, this could be a WARNING that most people refuse to listen because "old people are just too different and difficult to relate to".


Those who are useless, regardless of their age, are the ones who should carry the definition of being old. I think this is due the lack of encouragement we give to one another. We learn to just take our place in the world, even though we have the power to change it. I personally feel angry to hear the plans for the future of some of the people in my generation. Today, the youth feels so useless, and even feeling this way they still refuse to relate to elders. They leave the contribution to other people out of their league, like Obama or Martin Luther King. Meanwhile they keep on wasting water, taking on world resources, polluting the air, and then complain. I am still thinking of ways of changing this ridiculous ideal. We are all the same and we are all capable of being effective. We must stop this nonsense before it is too late to remediate the situation.

In conclusion, I feel that old people are no victims, and they should begin contributing. There are many ways to contribute. Elders are physically capable of doing simple tasks that would benefit others and themselves. They lived a long time without depending on others but themselves to make things happen, there is no reason to stop now. If old people wish to participate more in our lives, then they should make it happen. If we feel that old people is being pushed away, then we should stop it. In the end we are all human beings that have experienced being young and will experience being old. Ultimately the only aspect that differs us from older people is age.