Appreciating the old (elderly people)

When we look at the elderly, we see wrinkled faces, a fight against gravity that has been lost, and bodies that show the ravages of time. Young people, with faces unblemished and unmarked by cares of the world, look at the elderly and see ugliness. The person they see is not ugly. The ugliness is the future of woe and pain that the young see staring back at them."

"Let us consider for a moment the lines etched upon their faces. These lines reflect the life and the experience of the person. It is tempting to say that the deeper the line, the more experience the person has with the cause of that line. However, life uses different size chisels to carve our experiences upon our bodies."

"Some lines are deeply etched. Hard work, fears for their children's happiness, fights with illness, and concerns about money carve deep lines. It is hard to ignore them. It is tempting to say that these concerns represent the majority of a person's life. That is wrong. The chisel used to carve those lines is heavy and wielded by a clumsy hand."

"However, there are other lines etched with a more delicate touch. Laugh lines around the eye brought about by years of laughter, shared pleasure, and interesting conversations. We see these lines and say this was a jolly person. It is remarkable that such lines even exist because the chisel is fine and wielded by a soft hand."

"Finally, there are lines so finely wrought that it is almost impossible to see them. These lines come from intimate sharing. The young miss these lines completely. They can't see that grandma or granddad used to sit at the soda shop gazing lovingly into each others eyes. What young person can imagine granny getting her first kiss under the apple tree and cherishing that moment her whole life? Not many."

Extract  from  the story John Carter by Lazlo Zalezac