Why The Elderly are Venerated and Respected

It finally dawned upon me. I have met brilliant scientists, socio-economic specialists, gerontologist lecturers and people who have asked the brightest brains from Harvard to conduct a 70 year (yes 70 year) study of thousands of individuals and try to get a pattern as to why some people lived longer than others. The results were startling. I will try to put it down to a few key pointers.

1. People who lived happier, lived longer.

2. People who achieved happiness in old age actually generally were not top earners or   most powerful or most successful in their careers.

3. People who were generally happier had the best quality relationships with their spouses, their siblings,relatives and had a close circle of friends.

4. An acquaintence of mine from the School of Engineering at the National University of Singapore also spent some time in India trying to find out why some people lived till past their 100th birthday. He concluded after seeing a 104 year old headmaster of an orphanage who when he entered the orphanage had all the kiddies running up to him and hugging him giving him love and warmth 
  
5. People need a purpose for the greater good of their circle of influence. To be of use all the way to their dying day. 

In many Eastern societies the elderly are venerated and almost treated like Holy people.I always wondered why. Today I realise the reason why is because it is the opposite. Elderly people have their complete heuristic life experiences and wisdom well beyond comprehension of the younger people and they want to tell their stories and experiences in the hope that the young may learn and gain from their experiences.
  
They may not be mobile, or sometimes even confined to a wheelchair.

Celebrating my Uncle Vaithinathan's 100th birthday in 2015. 

He was first a schooltescher, then school principal, at 55 he became a barrister

at 75 he took to learning new languages and became an accomplised 

translator. He spoke and wrote 5 languages including Russian. 

Certainly a model for me. 

But they want to give their all. For in giving, they find a definite sense of purpose to stay on. Just a little while longer.  To help that one more person. If there is hesitation, we the younger ones should coax and cajole it out of them. To regale in their finest hours.

Love and Respect our Elderly. Understand that their physical and sometimes emotional 
attributes have faded and they may appear cranky, need to use the loo often 
(incontinence) and possibly even lose their trend of thought.

The Ravages of Time on a person's body can be merciless. However, they will want to share their  innermost feelings and experiences in the hope that they can still be of relevance to the people around them. Let them have their golden hours. For they will never ever walk this way again.  Soon, one day we will become the elderly and face the same circumstances as our fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts and all those who had gone before us did.

Carpe Diem.