Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother

“Honor thy father and thy mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you,” (Exodus 20: 12) and respect your seniors: A vehement charge to the younger generations (youth to middle aged)

One of my former best friends overtly neglected senior mother said painfully to me many years ago, “She treats us like a pair of old shoes tossed to the wayside,” referring to her and her now deceased husband.  I see this happening more and more with adult sons and daughters as they find it “annoying” or “inconvenient” to spend time with and/or care for their aging parents/grandparents/seniors.  In our unnecessarily busy lives filled with way too many agnostic activities of mediocrity, our seniors are being left behind, ignored and abandoned.  Our deadly sins of pride mixed in with covetousness of the new “must have eye candy toys” have us working day and night cluttering up our homes with an overabundance of material goods that have no value once they leave the store. 

Seniors are said to be in their golden years, yet many children and grandchildren do not treat them like the precious “gold” that they are and that most deserve.  Many of our American seniors are living well into their 80’s, 90’s and many are high functioning centenarians.  As I age each year, now in my middle fifties, I am in complete awe of each one that I meet.  I have been lucky enough to live with and care for seniors since childhood and now that I am older, I see that I have benefited from these priceless experiences while giving great joy to the seniors in my life and care.  “Charity begins at home,” my mother would always say as she and my father single-handedly cared for all of my grandparents in and out of the home until the day they met their Maker. 

If you are out there fighting for lives from persecuted nations and innocent victims of undeserved crimes, thank you and may God give you strength to continue to carry the torch of justice.  But if you do all of this and rarely/never call or see your parents/grandparents/seniors, then you are a hypocrite.  You are redirecting your need to “feel good about yourself” into a worthy cause but at the expense of your first duty of family elderly care.  Please rethink your supposed “charitable” acts the next time you choose to leave your senior alone on a major Biblical holiday. Do not call yourself a pious Bible following monotheist if you do not uphold the commandment of Exodus 20:12. This is not a suggestion or a strong recommendation, but an actual commandment from God. 

You should realize that the innovations in science and medicine discovered by our senior generations are the reasons why you live, for the most part, healthy and comfortable lives with cell phones and computers at your fingertips.  That your elderly loved ones made it to senior status maybe due to a combination of luck, genes and being at the right place at the right time but most made it due to their hard work and will to care for themselves and survive.  Become an octogenarian or if you are super blessed a centenarian and then let’s talk but until then, you are inferior so keep your holier than thou attitude to yourself.

All of our seniors in their own way fought for your national security here in America that you take for granted each day you get to go to school, work or shop uninterrupted.  While there are millions of people around the world presently suffering and dying in war torn countries without security you get to visit anywhere you desire in our 50 states because our seniors or their seniors fought for our freedom in one of the many 20th century wars.  If your father or grandfather is still alive and was in America during one of those times, it is your duty as their offspring to thank them and help care for them. 

In addition, they raised you or helped raise you.  Maybe they were not perfect but that’s ok, neither are you.  What do you like about yourself?  Chances are a matriarch and/or patriarch on one or both sides of your family molded your good traits and habits.  Please do not take full credit for whatever it is you love about yourself.  That feature most likely came from your upbringing.  Think about that and thank those elders that fostered that in you.

So, if you think you are smarter than them, you are not.

If you think you are wiser than them, you are not.

If you think you are more accomplished than them, yep, guess again.  You are not.

If you think you are better than them, I am here to tell you again, you are not.

Not YET anyway, but follow in your seniors’ footsteps, “honor” them the Exodus way and you, too, may someday be as smart, wise and accomplished, God willing.

The major innate superior quality that you have is a younger and hopefully healthier body than them but sadly that’s it. For until you have walked the many miles in their shoes, in their bodies and experienced their journeys you have zero right to criticize them. Therefore, call and/ or visit your senior parents/loved ones as much and as often as you can.  You will not only be following one of the primary Ten Commandments required of all monotheistic Jews and Christians, but you will also be setting a fabulous example of the way the younger generation following you should treat YOU if you are fortunate enough to live a long life.  Caring and loving your seniors now will allow you “to caste thy bread upon the waters” (Ecclesiastes 11:1) only to find it many days after.  “Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you.” (Luke 6:31).  It is the most fruitful way to pay it forward while you repay your debt to the seniors who made you the person you are today.