Attitudes are linked to respect

Yesterday I talked at length about how important respect was for everyone living a life affected by dementia.  It boosts self esteem, increases confidence and makes us all feel better about the whole situation.  Last week I also talked about how it's our attitude to dementia which robs a person of their dignity not the dementia itself and I really do think the two are linked.  Yesterday I heard someone say that his wife often comes through to tell him about something she has just heard on a quiz show and how sad it is that, by the time she gets to him, she's forgotten what she was going to tell him.  What I think is sad is that he isn't proud of her for wanting to tell him something interesting in the first place.  Does it really matter that she can't remember what she was going to say?  Isn't it more important that he was the person she wanted to tell?  Ash does something similar and it always sparks a conversation between us even if he can't remember the details of the original thought.  The thing that gets my respect for him is that he can answer so many questions on those quiz shows where I often sit there not even understanding what's been asked (especially if it's about chemical elements).  What's even more interesting is that I don't think I ever really appreciated the extent of his knowledge before.  Once again it's easy to notice what's lost rather than what still remains.  If we focus on what's still there we might find that the respect we once had returns in abundance.

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