In my personal experience with old people, although let's accept they are repetitive when they tell you a story, retelling it over and over again, I must say (an we should all admit), that at some point in their life when they were young, they were just like us, full of life, strong, and with a lot of dreams and mountains to cross. They never imagined they would be old and powerless, they believed they were invincible, and time will never beat them. They are now not old, but for a long time living and with a lot of experience to share. Make yourself time to visit not any kind of old people...but your own grandparents,or great-grandparents if you have some, and listen to their stories from their childhood, or adulthood, and notice how preocupied and important their actions were at that time, and how they thought they would never get old...Think of your granny(just as Ben's) how much patience she has with her grandchildren(your children when you are busy and you have to let them somewhere to be taken care of), how loving she is, and she does diserve to pay you a visit and talk to her while serving a tea. They don't diserve to be treated indifferently,as Ben'a father did with his own mother.
If we don't respect them,and our children see it, they'll take us as an example,and will do the same when we'll be old...maybe now we are just as young as they were, but in no time we will be the old people of "tomorrow"...
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