Respect

Today I had a conversation with a young teen while waiting in a business. It was interesting to see things from her point of view. One of the things she told me about was being angry at a doctor because he would not talk to her or answer her questions as he was examining her. He would only talk to her mother. He treated her as if she were not there. It upset her a lot.

I can understand that. Nobody, at any age, wants to be treated like a non person. I told her about a friend of mine who is in a wheelchair. When she and I would go out to eat, the waitresses would talk to me but not to her. When the waitress would ask me a question about my friend, such as what she wanted to eat, I would have to tell her to ask my friend.

The young girl was surprised to hear that this was a common experience for the elderly too. When an elderly person and a younger person are together, almost everybody talks to the younger person about the older person as if they were not there. It's pretty rude, but really common. I guess that's why little kids and the elderly often get along so well. They understand one another. People talk about them and over them but not to them.

The young teen got mad and fired her doctor (her mom let her). She has a new doctor now who talks to her, listens to her and answers her questions and she likes that just fine.