They say that to be old and wise you first need to be young and stupid. Now I wonder why it is that we call the young stupid and the old wise. Doesn’t that go against the fact that you’ll do better when you know better? Since we are young we do not have a lot of comparison material to make an accurate decision. Does that immediately imply that because someone is older and thus has more experiences that they are wiser? Aren’t you just saying that they can’t make mistakes anymore because they ought to know better because of all their life experiences?
I highly and sincerely doubt that when you get older you will not make any mistakes anymore. Perhaps fewer mistakes but going all the way down to zero? I doubt it. Plus we live in a world where a lot of things have changed and are changing. Who is to say that their experiences are still comparable with the current way of living. Better yet with their current way of living. Am I wrong to assume that to be able to fully take advantage from your past you need to stay on the same path your entire life. However, what happens when you do decide to change paths? Will you once again be young and stupid because in the new path you do not have the experience? On the other hand with a lot, if not most new things you do not have experiences. So again where does the old and wise step in with trying something new?
Another crucial point. When is it that you are categorized as old and wise? Who decides that? Do you decide that for yourself? How is that even decided? Last but not least what is it that makes you old and wise? I personally feel that a person that has made multiple mistakes and switched paths has more valuable and richer wisewoman/man tales to tell than someone that has stayed on the same path their entire life. Perhaps I could be wrong, I mean there is nothing wrong with following one path your entire life if it is the one that makes you happy. I just wonder at what point do you become old and wise? I feel as if a person who has switched lanes a couple of times would get there faster than someone who has stayed on the same path their entire life. On the other hand who is to say that a person that has stayed on the same path has not endured a lot and thus has lots of tales. Either way that is not the point.
The point is what do you do when you are young and you are making mistakes. Is it best to just categorize them as ‘’The tales I will tell when I am older’’, ‘’Things that are inevitable’’ or as ‘’Life Lessons’’. If you do categorize them as life lessons, given that you actually learned the lesson, would you not immediately become wiser? Logically speaking yes. So would you not, perhaps only to a younger person, already be old and wise if you were to tell them or anyone who has not had the experience about the tale or story? Even if you are in your twenties or so? Perhaps you would then not be categorized as old but why is wise cut out as well?
Obviously this week I was reviewing some of my past decisions and their outcomes. What I learned, what I didn’t learn, if I could have prevented some things, you know the basic back and forth. All a big complicated mess. I just couldn’t help but wonder whether somewhere along the way I had gotten wiser. I mean I must have if I am not making the same mistakes anymore. However, who is to say?
I wonder whether you would be able to be categorized as just wise when after the facts you do better when you find yourself in the same sort of situation again.
Love,
DCPR.
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