Throughout its history, America has not been known for treating its senior citizens with respect. But nowadays, I am happy to report senior citizens are getting their just-do here in the Santa Clarita Valley.

I refer, of course, to the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center. Indeed, that center — among many other things, serves free meals to people who are 60 years of age or older, and that is as it should be.

When I was a child, my parents impressed upon me to respect my elders, so that is what I did and what I am doing now.

The reality is that senior citizens do not have that long to live, and most of their lives have been gallant — and in some, darn heroic.

The message of life is when you get knocked down, you get back up, and nobody understands that better than our senior citizens. Thus, more and more people are treating senior citizens in a laudable fashion — quite unlike at any other time in our nation’s history.