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Learning Works Both Ways for Youth and Elders

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Happy New Year!

I want to revisit a topic touched upon in my last blog, because it is vital to emphasize the importance of minimizing and eliminating the generation gap between today’s youth and their elders, and there’s no time like the present and the beginning of a New Year! We younger generations have a great deal to learn from seniors, and conversely, seniors can learn a lot from the younger generations, as well.

We live in an age steeped in technology: Smart Phones, iPads, iPods, Laptops, and Drones. Our televisions can be “Smart,” too, vividly displaying our computer programs, or presenting the latest movies in high definition (HD), and three dimensions (3-D).

This is a far cry from what our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents considered progress just four score years ago. During their youth, the world was in the midst of significant change. Many grew up during the Great Depression that saw world economies plummet.

Foreign dictators were flexing their political muscle exerting extreme power to control large populations of people, including efforts to destroy America and the American dream. The world was a turbulent place, and it took the will, determination and resolve of our elders, who were young people at the time, to protect our nation, our land, our people and our freedoms. They did so by serving each other and our country any way they could during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict.

Even if they didn’t serve overseas or on the home front in a military service capacity, they had fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, and children who did. They did not have grocery stores like we have today. They did not get picked up for work or dates in shiny red automobiles, but by horse and buggy. Many didn’t have telephones or televisions until much later in their adult life. They wrote letters by hand and mailed them to their loved ones without the need of a zip code, only their name, street (or road), city and state! Imagine that…

The elderly have insight into how we got to where we are today. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for paving the way. Seniors do not deserve to be isolated and unappreciated. These conditions can have detrimental effects on their quality of life, health and mental well-being. Often, it is easy for someone alone and without hope to slip into depression, lose self-worth, and suffer physical decline. Spending time with and listening to seniors can and will broaden a realistic perspective about life and remind us of the many reasons we have all that we have, as we usher in the New Year. Perhaps, you can resolve to spend more time with the special seniors in your life in 2017!

Home Helpers® proudly serves seniors in Clearwater, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Holiday, New Port Richey, Trinity, Port Richey, Hudson and surrounding areas. If you are too busy or live too far away to spend time with your elderly relatives, call us today to learn more about companion care made possible by our amazing caregivers! You can also find out more about all of the available services offered through Home Helpers®. We are Making Life Easier℠. (727) 240-3059

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