Seems fashionable to be rude to your elders these days.
Damo
Dude, where are you coming from? Not trying to rag on you, but "Elders?" Really?
IMO, every diver has to carry his or her weight and prove himself on every dive. "Respect of your elders" is something you give to the guys giving the lectures or writing books, as most have grey hair and seldom get wet anymore.
Younger divers have every right to be suspect of us older divers. Most older divers are out-of-shape, don't dive on a regular basis, are too cheap to keep their gear updated and upgraded, cut corners, and BS more than they dive. I don't respect them and don't see why they deserve anybody else's respect, least of all because of their age. (For those of us who don't fit that profile, my hat's off!)
If you want to sit around with newer divers and tell them about the great dives you did back then, go for it. But understand that they see you just as an "old guy," just like you see any other "old" guy who's trying to relive his past. However, put on your tanks and dive with them and you will earn their respect.
I'm betting that I'm older than most, and still doing as many solo dives off boats and in caves as I can. My rebreather has given me the freedom to spend all day in the caves, and the heated vest + dry gloves have given me the freedom to spend much longer on the bottom with a wreck. When I come out of a cave hours after I went in, or climb back on the boat when everyone is going in for their second dive (or coming up with them and they're on their second dive), I think the younger divers take note. I can see a difference in their attitudes, in their wanting to include me in their converstations all of a sudden, and in the questions they are now asking because now they want to learn from me. I don't dive ths way to earn their respect; I do it because that's the way I enjoy diving.
So we have to earn the respect of younger divers in the same way they have to earn our's. That's the way it is, and should be, IMO.
