There are many who are judged by the way they look.  Those who are obese or emaciated, those who facial features don't fit the standards for beauty, are too often judged by the way they look.  Their intelligence, wit, warmth, capacity to love and deep sense of caring count for little.  These people are often written about but almost always in a negative light.  There is, however, another group of people who are simply discounted by those who are young.  They are simply judged by the way they look and act today.

 

I speak of seniors, especially those over 75.  The ones who walk slowly, whose dress is often dictated by financial circumstances, whose faces are wrinkled.  Not many people consciously prejudge them based on their looks and behavior but it happens nevertheless. They simply are old.  As dementia sets in, as Alzheimer's takes its toll, it is easy to dismiss them, perhaps feel pity for them at best.  But what is overlooked, forgotten or probably never known about them is who they were when they were younger.  This is true about most anyone who is older.

 

It seems to be difficult to even imagine that they too were once young and vibrant.  Their successes are forgotten.  Their passion to live and love in years past is forgotten.  It is hard to look at someone who is old and accept the fact that in their younger days they were as robust as today's young are.  Many of them were stunningly beautiful and dashingly handsome.  Hollywood is full of actors who were great looking decades ago.  Today they are simply old, and the young who didn't see them in movies or in magazines have no idea how they captured hearts as much as Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston does today.

 

The business giants of yesterday are forgotten, yet they were the stepping stones that allow those in business today to succeed and profit.  The housewives of yesteryear were the rocks upon which families were built.  True all of them seem to be frozen in time and seem to focus on the way it use to be.  But the way it use to be was the way it had to be back then.  They dressed in the styles that were popular decades ago, worked hard and for the most part led moral lives and had children, and thus grandchildren.  Those children and grandchildren are the young today, the leaders and the housewives of today.  Were those seniors young in this day and age they would give anyone who is younger a run for their money.

 

For too many what was a good life built on hard work and love of family has become a life of subsistence on Social Security checks.  Today their lifestyles are based on financial necessity, not current fashions and tastes.  And unlike the young, they clearly understand that life is not something endless, but rather something that is finite and their share of it is quickly dwindling.  Should you see a picture of someone youthful in an obituary who are well into their senior years, maybe it's because they want you to know them as they were - back then.

 

Perhaps all this can best be summed up by the following:

 

The Way I Was