"Respect you elders." This statement may seem all too familiar, but is it really being followed these days? Every day as I flip through the television, I witness discrimination against the old and wise. Frequently on television sitcoms I notice a false portrayal of old people as being boring and in poor health. The audience laughs as a teenager yells words at a grandmother whose hearing is failing or a grandfather having trouble finding his false teeth. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I'm not laughing.

Just like us, our elders were once young. They have memories of different fads, their first job, their first love, mistakes they've made, things they've discovered...my point is, they have stories to tell and things to teach us. They've lived through things that we ourselves can hardly imagine. Wars. Depressions. Life without computers or cellphones. They've lived through history. They're amazingly strong, intelligent, and interesting human beings who have gone through real experiences.

This is what I'd like to see portrayed in the media. Real people with real stories. People who the younger generation actually respects. Our elders will not be here forever, and it's time they got the credit they truly deserve.