Abuse is abuse. Whether the abuse be financial, emotional, physical or verbal it's all abuse. It doesn't matter who the person is, it's still abuse. It seems like our society puts more awareness into certain people and forget that abuse happens to everyone. Elder abuse is such an important topic, that older people are just as important. They become targeted due to their age and health. Trust me, I was where you are right now. Before taking a Family Abuse and Neglect class in college, elder abuse hardly ever crossed my mind. Honestly, I hate that this was true. What pisses me off was the fact that I only acknowledged one group of people instead of people in general. That I was ignorant to what else was happening in this world. Everyone matters. It's not just the children, the white people or the wealthy folk. We all matter.

So for this class, we were assigned different groups to bring awareness to. I ended up getting the elderly group. I wasn't the most creative back then so I decided I would write a poem and perform it in order to spread awareness. Sure, maybe it didn't reach the amount of people that I wanted it to but it grabbed a few people's attention. And that's all that matters right. As long as your message managed to change one person, then you've made a difference.

Lets put our heads together, stop the abuse

But keep our hands to ourselves, make it world news.

Awareness needs to be brought to our attention,

Be concerned about the issues, create a prevention.

Wheelchairs and walkers don’t make them less human,

Look at President Roosevelt, ruled the country before Truman.

Remember the golden rule, treat others how you want to be treated,

After all, one day you'll be an elder, do you want to be mistreated?

Our elders are our wisest and most valuable citizen,

We all should make protecting them our mission.

They have stories beyond compare, life lessons to share,

So how can you tell me, taking care of them is unfair.

You get to live in history, hear unbelievable stories,

Watch their lives flash before your eyes, it’s a TV series.

They don’t deserve your yelling, your hurtful remarks,

You putting your hands on them, it shouldn’t leave marks.

They need a little extra help, that’s okay, it’s alright

Remember when you were little, didn’t know your left from your right.

There’s no difference between them and you,

except they are older and take longer to cover from the flu.

So stand back for a second and ask yourself this,

If you were being abused, you’d ask what you did to deserve this.

You’d say nothing, you’re correct but wait, you don’t have to admit

but what’s any different from you to the elder you just hit.

If you or anyone you know suspect abuse, please contact someone. Become an advocate. Everyone's life matters.