When youths help
seniors, everybody learns something new.
With no cell phones, air conditioners, Internet, polio vaccine or video games, the world 80 years ago would be wholly unrecognizable to a youth of today, and perhaps this is why the generation gap has grown so large. Yet while times change, people do not; seniors have much to teach the youth of today. Given the right atmosphere, modern youths will find spending time with seniors one of the most richly rewarding experiences of their lives.
Advise
While some details of problems faced by today's youth may not be familiar to most seniors, basic problems of school, friends, family, work and love never change. If, as Julius Caesar said, "Experience is the teacher of all things," the wisdom attained in a senior's lifetime of experience makes her one of the most valuable and trusted friends a young person could have. The best way to become wise beyond your years is to learn from those well beyond you in years.
Perspective
When a youth listens to an elderly person speak of his life and how he has handled adversities such as war, poverty, immigration or discrimination, it can put her own problems in perspective. Listening to the elderly teaches youths the importance of the simple things in life like family and health and can offer hope for the future or motivation to be a source of further change. Additionally, hearing first-hand accounts of history makes the past personal, which can radically alter a youth's attitude toward history's importance and relevance.
Caring Experience
When youths help seniors use a computer, shop or take them where they need to go, they are perhaps doing themselves the bigger favor. Helping care for seniors teaches patience and gentleness that can help prepare them for parenthood someday. It also teaches humility -- young people tend to think of themselves as invincible; caring for people who must think of their own mortality every day reminds them they will be in a similar situation someday.
Happiness
Many seniors, especially those whose spouses have died and do not have family close by, get very lonely. When a youth visits a senior, she will not be able to help but notice how happy her visit makes him. Just knowing that she has made someone's day, that her presence is making a positive difference in someone's life, will boost her self-esteem and self-image and can potentially lead her to want to make a difference in more people's lives by pursuing other volunteer activities.
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