I love living in a culture (Thailand) where age is automatically respected. And yet, even within this culture of automatic respect, there is a gentle delineation between elders who have led and are worthy of more than the usual respect, and those who have simply held on and are somewhat scarred and battle-damaged. Even those elders who have made choices we, or 'society' may disagree with, they are still our teachers at this point and still worthy of being acknowledged as such. This is an important post. Much gratitude.