Getting older did bring me something onetime I wasn't expecting: respect!
At my last job, which was in the process of going out of business, we had employed many young people in part-time positions. There was this one cute little 18 year old thing working there at the time and it happened that she was sent to me to help out on a project I was working on. In the course of our time together, I attempted to engage her in some idle chit-chat, asking about school and such. She told me she had dropped out of school due to some trouble she had, the nature of which she informed me was a personal matter she didn't wish to talk about. (In other words, NONE-OF-MY-BUSINESS!) Well, I respected that, but I did tell here that she was still young and she really should consider going back to school or at the very least, a GED. There were more doors open to a High School grad as opposed to a High School drop-out.
It was a few weeks later that those younger, part-time workers were among the the first to go, but this girl came to me before she left and told me this, "You know, I really thought about what you said, and you were right. I'm going back to school and get my diploma!"
I wished her the best of luck, but I was actually stunned! Nobody ever listens to me, I thought, and somehow I had influenced this young person! I don't know if my maturity had anything to do with it, but it sure surprised the heck out of me!
Now if I could only get my family to take my advice!