Ever wonder where the idea of the wisdom of the elders came from? When life was simple – and I mean really simple – the elders of the tribe were thought to ho;d all the wisdom. Not so in our modern society where you not only have to decide where to park when you go downtown or where to get a decent hamburger or where to shop for car insurance.
I saw a cartoon recently in which an older man is asking his granddaughter, who is working on her computer, what she is doing. She replies that she is backing up. The man says, “Now you listen to me and I’ll give you a piece of advice that my father gave me and it has always worked for me. ‘Never back up. You always want to be moving forward. When you back up you might run over something you can’t see in your rear-view mirror.’”
How many of us older and wiser people think we have all the answers when we are really still following advice and rules that we learned as children – back when they may have made some sense? Did your mother ever tell you not to run with scissors, not to play with matches or not to talk to strangers? Did she ever tell you to wait for an hour after eating before going in the water? Did she tell you not to play with that stick because you might poke some kid’s eye out? Did you father ever tell you to get a secure job, stay with that same company and then collect a nice retirement check after say, 35 years? Probably. Guess what? I played with a sticks and I went swimming after only 45 minutes.
I can hardly remember about how much we complained about things back then. Do you remember wishing you had a color TV instead of that old black and white one – the one with the rabbit ears? The one you had to jump up from the couch to change the channel? Do you remember wishing your car had air conditioning? Do you remember when we had to defrost our refrigerators? Or what a struggle it was to get the ice cubes out of the tray? I could go on. Life was cruel and hard back then. Those were the BM days. (before microwaves)
I also wish you would stop telling me over and over and over again about your successes from 45 years ago. So what if you were the manager of the mimeograph department back then? Does anyone today even remember what a mimeograph machine is (or was)? Those talents and experiences are so long obsolete that no one even knows any more what they were or why they were important. And stop telling me about your 37 years’ experience as a teacher or whatever it was that you did. I strongly suspect that you didn't really have 37 years experience. Rather, I think you had one year’s experience, 37 times. (There is a difference you know.)
I also wish you would stop telling me over and over and over again about your successes from 45 years ago. So what if you were the manager of the mimeograph department back then? Does anyone today even remember what a mimeograph machine is (or was)? Do you know what those talents and experiences are so long obsolete that no one even knows any more what they were or why they were important. And stop telling me about your 37 years’ experience as a teacher or whatever it was that you did. I strongly suspect that you didn't really have 37 years experience. Rather, I think you had one year’s experience, 37 times. (There is a difference you know.) See how it feels when I keep telling you again and again?
Those of us who are “older and wiser” need to start facing the truth. We need to start learning new skills, new techniques and accepting new ideas. I’ll admit it – I remember hearing myself say – way, way back in 1989. “What the hell do I need a computer for?” Now I know what I need a computer for. I just wrote this piece on one. And maybe I still need to learn. The other day I heard myself say, “What do I need one of those fancy phones for? ” Deja vu all over again.
So please get off your old, obsolete soap box and stop telling me that because you are older, you are wiser.
Thanks to Paul for the ideas
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