Have you ever actually sat down and listened to an elderly person?

Not when I was younger. Now that I'm getting older and my parents and there parents have passed away I realize the need to do this. My family did not pass away lonely, we we're all there with them to make them laugh. We even sang songs to them and did special things like that. Now I feel sorry for older people who live alone and usually die alone. I do check in on my elderly neighbor who lives back in the woods. I don't have alot of time to devote to this but I do my very best.

yes many many times,,,for all the years I spent working in nursing homes,,,which were over 14 years,,,I was the best nurses aid any nursing home that I ever worked in was very lucky to have me there,,,but I was the lucky one because I seen and heard the best storys about people that were hard working God fearing,,,and very loving souls,,,and I am so grateful That God/Goddess let me feel their souls,,,and I had Some deathsthat will stay with my memury for ever,,,Love and Light Mary

Yes I do, and as often as possible. They have wonderful advice and experience to share. I've spent lots of time with my grandmothers, great grandmothers, older great-aunts and uncles, and some great-great-aunts and uncles. Also some family friends. These people have lots to share. Sometimes their language or ideas can be outdated and certainly not "PC", but their basic messages, knowledge and values are valuable and often timeless.

Yes. One summer when I was researching family history I met a few times with my aunt. We looked through photo albums and we just talked while the tape recorder did its thing. I'm so glad I did because she went senile and died a few years later.

Earlier this month I had a convention in Orlando Florida. During a slow part of the day I sat next to one of those old guys that checks attendance and started talking with him. We chatted about his old profession, what life is like for him in Florida, stuff like that.

For the most part, I love listening to older people talk. I like to know what life was like before iPods and cell phones and how people lived without the technology my generation is so dependent on. They're like living time capsules. It's fascinating. I wish our society had more respect for older people. :(

Yes. I used to actually visit "old-folks-homes" as I called them. The stories of their lives are so interesting. Everything from how they know the names and uses for various plants to how many changes they have seen in the world over their years. They can be so fascinating. I feel like we are losing so much because we don't listen to our elders anymore. It's too bad.

I am a care assistant in an old folks home and I sit down and listen to the elderly all the time. Sometimes I know I should be more caring towards their thoughts but it's hard to listen to the sme story over and over again as a lot of them have memory problems like alzeimers. I love their stories because a lot of them lived in a completely different place and time to me so their stories are so different to your every day gossip story you hear from your friends and they are far more intruiging. I think everybody should get to know an older person. You can learn a lot from one persons stories and older people just have far more expieriences!

yes, i learned that its hard to understand my pop pop while he's speaking.

Yes, I talk to myself everyday ;-)

Has anyone seen the movie "fried green tomatoes" That was a classic about an old lady talking about the old times.

My grandfather would corner us and talk nonstop for hours about the old days. I was young, so I would spend the whole time pretending to care, but the only thing that I cared about was getting back to my video games and TV. He died last year and now that I sit and think about all those stories he had tried to tell me and others in my family, I wish that I would of had the patience to sit and listen to such an intelligent man who had seen so much.