I love being young, trying new things, and having the ability to do what I want. As of right now, the only future I think about is my upcoming midterms and deciding on a major. These minor problems that consume our everyday lives seem so small in the larger scheme of life. It’s hard to think to the future, especially the very far future, even past adulthood.

A major problem that is often pushed aside is the exclusion of the elderly population in America.

Imagine living a full life with a nice house and family. You were always involved in the community and held big Thanksgivings. You attended every one of your children’s soccer games and even made costumes for the school play. Now imagine going through a medical issue and suddenly you are seventy years old. You are sitting in a small nursing home room, excluded from society, wheeled around from meal to meal. It doesn’t sound like such a nice life now. The sad truth behind it is that this is how over a million people live.

No one likes to think about aging and what their life will be like once they pass that terrible number of 65, which means you officially qualify as a senior citizen. Although the AARP benefits and deals on newly released movies sound like a bargain, there are significant issues that arise during the end of someone’s life.

With an increasing amount of students developing mental health diseases, one forgotten fact is that the elderly population is also similar in this matter. There is an increase in anxiety, mood disorders, depression, and bipolar disorder, especially related to after one reaches the age of 55. A common mindset during this age is loneliness.

I’m sure we’ve all seen an elderly man eating at a restaurant alone. Or possibly an old lady walking all the way to the grocery store and back with more groceries than she can carry. Some people may offer to sit with the man or carry the groceries back for the woman. What about the elderly people that are too afraid to leave their home or the people locked up in a nursing home that cannot take care of themselves? Who helps them?

Many elderly people crave just one thing: company. They wish for someone to talk to, someone to listen and understand them. Many older people have grown up during periods that we learn about in our history books and know details from first-hand experience. They can offer advice about your own future. Plus, they are often great at cracking jokes and making you smile. Towards the end of one’s lifetime, all that is left is to truly reminisce, to remember your life through its entirety, the ups, and the downs.

Just because someone is not in the workforce and needs extra care does not mean they should be excluded from society. Society is people of all ages, all backgrounds, all races, and many other factors. The elderly have just as much a right to be accepted as anyone else.

To embrace our history and who we are as a country is to embrace the elderly for what they have gone through that has made them into who they are today. They should be acknowledged on all ends of the spectrum and treated the same as any other age group.

The elderly are not a cranky group of people waiting for someone to walk onto their property, but a group that has experienced so much of life and are hoping to share that with other generations. They were once young adults like you and I. They are human. They do deserve to be treated with respect.

Every moment should be lived out to the fullest. This can be a motto for someone twenty years old or ninety years old. Life should not be limited to a number, but to a scale of happiness.