Wanted: Senior citizens to help our youth

Wanted: Senior citizens to come forth and share their wisdom and experiences with our youth. We, who have climbed mountains and crossed valleys, are needed to share our accumulated treasures with young people about to embark on their journeys. We can be a guiding force as they struggle, seeking new directions in our time of turmoil. Without your guiding hands, how can our youth build a better community? Walk with me awhile as we discuss this matter together.

Daily we complain that many of our youth have lost their direction and seek only pleasure. The closely knit family that you and I grew up in has sadly disintegrated because parents are working. And many parents are struggling just to make ends meet. As a result the young are left alone much of the time.

Dinner time seems to be a quick snack on the run. Rarely do we sit and enjoy a meal together and share our experiences. Many of our youth have not learned the dignity and value of hard work. It appears that they have become a society dependent on others doing the work for them.

As “senior citizens” we must pick up the challenge to correct this situation. I don’t like to use the word retirees. It sounds so final; instead, let’s use senior citizens. We, the senior citizens, must motivate our youth. We must show them how to build a better life than we have had. We must lift them on our shoulders and show them a vision of what can be. You and I have so much to share. As the Bible says: “Do not hide your light under a bushel. But let it shine forth.”

Our words coming from experience and wisdom can change attitudes in our youth that seem to stifle their growth and desire to work. Sometime ago I wrote about attitudes. If we don’t help them to improve their attitudes, youth will become a dependent society. We must become youths’ mentors.

I am constantly surprised at how early in life some of us senior citizens age. Some of us at the sprite early age of 55 feel tired and burned out and want only to sit around and chat. What has happened to our lives that we feel so burned out? I plead with all of us not to become discouraged by any inner feelings of uselessness. If we look inside, we will find so many good things to share with youth.

When I hear about senior citizens who just sit around the house and putter in the garden killing time, I feel compassion at how miserable and empty their lives must have been all their working years to have caused this early living death. I am reminded of a saying: “Many men die at 25 but are not buried until 75.” Please don’t become one of them.

Instead of seeking sanctuary in a closed-in and private world, I beg all of us: do not retire from helping our youth who need our experience and knowledge. Share the treasures we have accumulated over the years. We may ask: What can I do? Where can I be useful?

For starters, go to any school and ask the principal how can we help guide students. We can perhaps read to them, Talk to them about personal experiences. Join the students at the Northern Marianas Trades Institute. They surely can use our experience. Share them with the youth.

Form a church group and encourage the youth of that parish to meet and discuss their problems, frustrations, and fears with you. Go to sports events and meet the youth while cheering on their performances. Visit the prison and sit and talk with the inmates. Share our experiences and they will share theirs with us. They need guidance.

Ladies, spend time with young women and discuss how to be good mothers. Volunteer at the battered women’s shelter. These are only a few of the many things we can do. Some of us may have more ideas. Consider how we can become an important and strong influence on our youth. They need us.

Every time I meet a successful person, I see that he or she had someone in his or life that influenced and motivated them. But every time I meet an unsuccessful person, I notice the absence of such an influence. Think about this in our own personal life. Without the help of my parents and other friends, I could have easily ended as a failure in life. But somehow because of their encouragement as I was forming my life, today I feel a tremendous love of life and wish to share it.

Many of us think that we have passed the prime of our lives at 55 or even 65. We feel that our usefulness has passed. But here are several names of people who are still active and several names of people who were active and productive well into their twilight years. See how many you recognize.

A. Golda Meir was leading the modern nation of Israel at the age of 76.

B. Cornelius Vanderbilt built most of his railroads when he was well over 76.

C. Verdi wrote operas after he was 80.

D. Betty White was named America’s most trusted celebrity in a Reuters/Ipsos poll at age 89.

E. Tony Bennett is still popular and singing in Las Vegas at 85.

F. Michelangelo was still sculpting masterpieces at 89 years old.

G. Warren Buffet, the world’s second richest man, is still active at 80.

H. Clint Eastwood at 80 years young is still directing films.

I. Titan, a famous painter, painted his incomparable painting of the “Battle of Lepanto” and his “Last Supper” at 89 years young.

J. Art Linkletter at 97 was still touring and giving lectures.

The list is almost endless. How do these people do it and we cannot?

The above is only a handful of “old folks” who refused to wilt away and become useless. For those of you who do not know, I just turned 81 years young and have many more miles to go before I call it quits. Come join with me. Yes, we have aches and pains, but so what? Forget them! Let’s share the experiences with the youth. Let’s volunteer all the treasures we have gathered in our exciting life. There is so much to do and teach.

In closing I quote again from Tennyson’s poem, Ulysses:

[I]“Come, my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world…
Though we are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”[/I]

Don’t be a burned out candle to be thrown aside. Become a beacon of hope to guide our youth. Pass on the baton to a prosperous tomorrow. Our youth need you! And do it with a gigantic smile!