To quote SpongeBob, "Old people are the greatest. They're full of wisdom and experience."

Coming from someone who has worked with older people for the past two summers now, I've developed a respect for older people that many people in my generation lack. The amount I've learned just from working alongside people with dementia I will always treasure. They may not remember who I am or what activity they just did, but they can tell you about and point out places in town that existed decades before you even existed. The knowledge one person has shared with me about flowers alone is outstanding. She can tell me what flower it is, and interesting facts about how she had these flowers growing at her home back in the day.

When you take the time to listen to the stories these wonderful people have to say, you develop a whole new perspective on your views of the older generations around us. They were our age once and can offer us stories about how they lived that can help us shape the way we live our lives as well.

People of the younger generations don't seem to give older people the time of day anymore, and this makes me very discouraged. We are losing our respect for the culture and events that occurred in their time, and not giving them the proper respect they have earned. They love when a young person sits down and has an actual conversation with them because believe it or not many do not get much attention from anyone. Luckily, where I work, the residents have many activities to attend and trips to go on and have the chance to interact with someone my age when I work at the front desk.

Not only have I learned to actually talk on the phone, I also know how to hold actual conversations when normally people my age bury their face in their phone to avoid conversation.

My advice to the people of my generation, please start respecting the older people around you. Talk to them, smile at them, and treat them the way you want to be treated. The amount you can learn from a 90-year-old person is valuable and essential if we want to keep their spirit alive in our society. I am privileged to have the pleasure of meeting such amazing residents at work and love spending time with them and helping them when I can.

Old people are our greatest natural resource! Spongebob knows it and now you do too.