Resolve to be Grateful for Grandparents and to give Elders the Respect they deserve 2day

Maybe your grandparents live next door, or maybe they live in another country. Maybe you have four grandparents or maybe only one. But so many young people don’t really appreciate their own grandparents and the elders of the world.

In some parts of the world, the elders of the society are regarded with the utmost respect – for their knowledge and their experience. They are consulted on all important matters and young people go to them for guidance.
In other places, older people are treated as unimportant, as second-class citizens. They are forgotten; their views don’t count.
But wherever you live, how YOU think of your grandparents and other older people is up to YOU.

Why should we respect older people?
-BECAUSE some of the world’s most amazing people are over 70
Nelson Mandela, 90 years old, was 71 when he was released from his 27-year imprisonment. He was 75 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On his 89th birthday Mandela announced the formation of a new group, The Elders. The group is made up of world leaders who work together, using their wisdom and experience, towards solutions for global problems. Other members are Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan.

-BECAUSE grandparents do a great job even when they shouldn’t have to do it
Millions of grandparents across the world are the primary carers for their orphaned grandchildren. These grandparents are grieving for the loss of their own sons and daughters. They thought their days of raising young children were over, and should be enjoying their retirement. Yet they take on the responsibility of child care without complaint and give these children as much love as they can.

-BECAUSE older means more experienced
If you get a job for a company and start off in a low position, you understand that the people in positions above you, who have been there for many years, are more experienced than you, and you respect them for that and hope to learn from them.
Well, it should be the same between the younger and older generations of society. Your grandparents and the elders of your society were seeing and experiencing things 50 years before you were. Just think of all the things they have seen and experienced that you have only read about!

-BECAUSE people are people, regardless of age
How would you describe yourself, or your best friend? Clever, funny, creative, a chatterbox? Crazy about cars or soccer-mad? As a young person, there are so many attributes and characteristics that make you who you are, and it is exactly the same for every older person. Ten older people are not all the same just because they are all ‘old’ – they are all unique with individual interests, hobbies and talents. But if you don’t take the time to get to know your grandparents and the other older people in your community, you won’t find out who they really are.

I hope my blog has made you think about how the elders of your society, and of every society in the world, are individuals and are deserving of respect from younger people. Remember, some of the coolest, bravest and most interesting people on this planet are over 70!


Interesting websites:
http://www.sponsoragrandparent.org.uk/ - help support a grandparent
http://www.theelders.org/ - Nelson Mandela's group of Global Elders for a Global community

Resolve to work hard today.

Work! Oh, how we all love to dodge work, I was playing the devil’s advocate recently in a discussion with my mother on women who choose to marry into money- not for love, but simply to be “kept” (as my mother would put it) and she attributed it to laziness! In her opinion, everyone should work hard (out of the home) to make a name for themselves and anything else is laziness! So I said to her, “well, if you’re rich- it’s not being lazy, it’s called being priviledged and if you’re poor, then it’s laziness.” And as a result I coined the term “privilazia”, to describe chronic laziness as a result of poverty or excessive wealth. The point being- we’re all lazy and most of the time (unless you’re a workaholic) we HATE work.



When I say “hate work” I don’t merely mean the job you do, but whatever activity that will produce sweat on your brow and mental or physical strain. As much as we would like to avoid anything that we consider to be boring, like putting a garage in order or do a overdue report. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GROW WITHOUT WORK. It’s impossible to expand yourself- if you don’t leave your comfort zone- if you don’t do the things you hate to do- but have to be done. There comes a time when you have to take responsibility for your life and decide to move in the direction you’d like it go in and often that will require some unpleasant work one way or another.

Stop avoiding it- whatever you have been putting off- do it and do it now! If you don’t it won’t go away- it will simply pile up until it becomes an even great issue to deal with than it would have been from the beginning.

Resolve to do some hard work today. Trust me, you’ll feel like a better person at the end of the day.

Special thanks to Davide Guglielmo for letting me use his photograph. Click on his name to go to the www.sxc.hu profile, where you can browse his photo gallery. And to go to his website click HERE.

Resolve not to take every single opportunity you get.

There are tons of choices in life, some are very basic, from what you will have for breakfast, to more important choices like who you’ll marry or what company you will work for. All the choices we make, will impact our lives in one way or another- because let’s face it, if you decide to have yogurt for breakfast, you’re keeping some someone in work in some dairy company. A point to note, Americans stopped buying toys (which may seem like a totally insignificant thing to some) and factories in China closed down- putting thousands of people out of work and out of food and unable to afford the basis necessities of life. Yes, every choice you make counts, especially the choices you don’t have to make.

I won’t bore you with the stats on how many ads the average person is bombarded with everyday, but I will point out that in the same way you don’t automatically buy everything that’s advertised to you- you shouldn’t take every single opportunity you are offered- even if it’s on a silver platter. Most people these days barely have time to live life, between work, church, social gatherings, sports, children’s events and lots of other thing- YET, they find themselves buying into chances to put more on their plate. More activities, more schemes, more policies to buy, more active roles in the lives of friends and family members… BASICALLY it all amounts to MORE! MORE! MORE! AND MORE- MORE!

Are you like that? Have you found yourself unable to resist adding more to your plate? Buying more, giving more, taking more- wanting more- it never comes to an end. There are endless things that can fill your life- but your capacity to handle MORE will some day come to an end and where will you be? A place filled with bits and pieces of everything, without anything solid to hold up for all the stress and anxiety that adding more to your life brings.

Even if it is a really good idea- hold back for a moment and THINK about it and you might see that- just like drinking out of the different bottles in the inspiring picture for the day- it might do you any good.

Resolve not to take every opportunity you get. Trust me, it will save you a lot of trouble in the future.

N.C Ronia

Special thanks to Scott Liddell for letting me use his photograph. Click on his name to go to the www.sxc.hu profile, where you can browse his photo gallery. And to go to his website click HERE.

I resolve not to let the world drive me crazy today.

Today is a Monday and true to form, it is a blue Monday. I started it off right, but now I feel like tearing my hair out with frustration, things are not going the way I’d like, I spilt my tea, spent ages in a line, had to leave home late while waiting for someone, I could go on and on and on, but instead I choose not to lose my mind, or my patience or my cool… why? Because even if I do lose my mind, the world will keep spinning, so it’s pointless to let the world drive you mad, when the world won’t care that you’re mad.

Take three deep breaths, calm down and you’ll feel better.

Resolve not to let the world drive you crazy today. Trust me, you’ll feel like a better person at the end of the day.

N.C Ronia