Most of us are fortunate enough to have grandparents close by at the time we are born. In fact when our mothers become pregnant to bear us, no doubt the must have turned to their parents, our grandparents, for advice and assistance. This is probably because our parents were young and needed someone to hold their hands; someone who had been there before. Undoubtedly, most of our parents would have depended on their parents during that crucial time/ following this, during our childhood too, our grandparents would have been there at the side of our parents to help bring us up when we were infants. Needless to say, we owe much to our grandparents.

This attitude of helping to look after one's grandparents is only present in members of the human race. No other known animal on the planet seems to have this particular trend. Strangely also, the tradition of grandparents playing an important role in the birth and upbringing of grandchildren seems to be a universal trend among humans. Just like the fact that the best arrangement for couples in the human race is to be together for life, subject to divorce not taking place, grandparents too must have been an outcome of evolution. It is probable also that through the five million years of man's existence on this planet, we have found that having grandparents around is the best thing. The origins of traditions are lost in oblivion, but we may be sure that they are founded upon what is practical; usually after several experiments. In this way, the idea of grandparents remaining close to us has been found to be a blessing.

All of us know grandparents as symbols of wisdom; they speak from experience and tell us how to go where they have been. They may not be up to date in matters of science and other branches of knowledge, but they would have been through the ?school of hard knocks?/ they are usually experts at relationships. Many of us have learnt at their knees things that have saved us pain in later life. It is grandparents who tell us that though money and other symbols of wealth are great to have, the real values in life are the non-material kind. They themselves had probably discovered this through a lifetime of pain and sorrow. We often see them trying to make up to their children -- our parents -- for their having being strict, perhaps even unkind, to them when they were young. As it often turns out, they often try to parent us to make up for the mistakes they made in parenting their own children. Thus, by being close to them, many of us who listen to them are saved from the pain of making the same painful mistakes.

It is unfortunate that, as part of the modern lifestyle, we are losing contacts with our grandparents. It is just not wise at all, but it is happening all around us, that after five million years of evolution, we are now discarding some of the most beautiful aspects of being a human. Pushing grandparents out of the scene is one of them. Many of them are being exiled in old folk's homes; where being deprived of something useful to do and of being loved and wanted, they waste away to early ends. One can only hope that the trend will be reversed; if not for the sake of our grandparents -- then at least for the sake of the wisdom they have to offer all of us.