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Just for being alive longer? Is their opinion more valuable? On one hand, old people do have a long archive of experience, but on the other hand, some people are idiots no matter what age they are.
No, I have met many elders, who do not deserve my respect. But often when I do run into someone, who I find their words breathtaking, they usual have a couple of decades on me.
Someone once wrote that when he first went away to college, he was ashamed at how ignorant his father was. Later, after he had graduated, he was truly amazed at how much the old man had learned in four years.
The passage of time has a similar effect on the perspective of most reasonable people. The older you get, the more input you receive, both consciously and serendipitously. If for no other reason, old people deserve the benefit of the doubt unless and until they prove that they have lost their marbles. And even then, they often have something of value to offer, even if it is only the lesson to be drawn from their decline.
I agree with many people in here who said respect is earned. Being of the older generation does not make one wise, just as being of the young generation does not make you ignorant and irresponsible. I have met wise young people, and foolish old and visa versa. In general I believe intelligent hard working young people become wise older folks. If you are a fool as a 25 year old, that is not likely to change by the time you are 70 or 80. In fact those people get even nastier as they believe being old allows them to say whatever they want to those who are younger than them. If you are elderly and believe that those younger than you should "respect thier elders" then you probably are more likely to say and do what ever you want to them. This sense of entitlement leads to generational bickering. You should treat all people with respect, regardless of age or status, at least untill they act in a way that shows they dont deserve that respect. Oh and I am near midlife, so I dont fit the label of young or old.
Just for being alive longer? Is their opinion more valuable? On one hand, old people do have a long archive of experience, but on the other hand, some people are idiots no matter what age they are.
Respect should be earned. If they give respect, then they get it. I had this older woman cut me off in a store. I did not say anything. Was brought up respecting older people, but I believe it goes both ways.
I believe that the young should always at least listen to the elderly because there are so many lessons about life that can only be learned from experience. The elderly have been your age before and many understand that the laws of human nature are timeless. With that said the elderly shouldn't be dismissive of the younger generation either. The youth are our future and what they have learned in their shorter lives is much more current. They aren't stuck in outdated paradigms of thought like the elderly. They are only a reflection of the generation that raised them so before criticizing them I believe the elderly need to try to honestly remember how much like them they once were.
If older people are worthy of my respect, why is the U.S. in its current condition? I'd feel more obligated to respect older generations had they left the U.S. in the condition that they would have liked it to be were they my age, but as it currently stands, I've inherited from the older generations one big mess thanks to their complacency.
p.s. And thanks for murdering our cousins in Europe, because after all, it's just fine for the whole rest of the world to conquer us as long as they aren't Germans...
If older people are worthy of my respect, why is the U.S. in its current condition? I'd feel more obligated to respect older generations had they left the U.S. in the condition that they would have liked it to be were they my age, but as it currently stands, I've inherited from the older generations one big mess thanks to their complacency.
p.s. And thanks for murdering our cousins in Europe, because after all, it's just fine for the whole rest of the world to conquer us as long as they aren't Germans...
I am not sure what you mean by the last statment. Are you talking about WW2?
As to the rest, are you really sayig the state of the US is worse off then it was in 1950? 1940? Really? What criteria are you using to judge that with? Obviously not technology, race relations, gender equality, medical achievements, etc. Maybe you can explain with what criteria you are basing your opinion on?
Older people have experienced more of life and therefore have more knowledge than young people.
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old people deserve respect
