WISE OLD MEN & WHY WE SHOULD HAVE LISTENED EARLIER

[chief38]

AT 69 years of age, I have come to the realization that many older people I knew and interacted with during my youth were actually a lot smarter and wiser than I gave the credit for at the time. I used to think they were just old fogey's blowing off steam - it turned out some were pretty damned wise and wish I had payed more attention to them at the time - parents included! I find myself wishing I had come to this realization sooner as it would have saved me from making a few mistakes along the way.

Today I find myself trying desperately to help my kids and younger folks with life's lessons learned and they look at me just the way I looked at the older generations 50 years ago. It's really a shame!! I suppose it's just human nature but there are a very small handful that actually heed advise and take advantage of what they learn very young. I don't know if there is a way to increase that percentage but I keep looking and trying.

My wife and I moved 18 months ago to a nice area with some very successful and intelligent residents. I actually love to meet new people who are smarter, bolder and have more experience than I do. I am finally at the point in my life that I look forward to learning and taking advice from a select few that are smarter, more knowledgable and more successful than I. That's how we learn!

I always made it a point to hang around with people who I had things in common with but also had areas of expertise far greater than I and that I could learn from. I will not give up the thirst for knowledge until I am no longer here and breathing. Yes, I like to live in my comfort zone also - but we should NEVER be too old, comfortable or complacent to better ourselves through knowledge - no matter what the subject matter is. Passing it along has never been so important!

I don't really know why I felt he need to post this on a forum like this, but I guess this is as good a place as any and being that the average age of the forum members here is more than likely higher than many forums, I hope it might give a few of us a little impetus to try in a palatable way to enrich and better the lives of younger people for whom we car about.

End of my philosophical post.

 

[Truckman]

I've always heard that the older we become, the smarter our parents were...It's the truth......Ben

 

[Breakaway500]

Someone asked Bernard Shaw what, in his opinion, is the most beautiful thing in this world.

"Youth," he replied, "is the most beautiful thing in this world—and what a pity that it has to be wasted on children!"

 

[quikdraw67]

Looking back, my Dad was a fountain of knowledge that I was too stupid to drink from.

I know now that he was right about many things.

 

[pharmer]

I was at an "annual bbq" yesterday making the schmooze (which I am not good at) when a friend brought her teen son over for intro. She was beaming and proud and asked "a veteran High School teacher" for any words of advice as he enters High School. I told the young man (zero eye contact and "limp" handshake): "Choose your friends wisely, who you hang with will either pull you up or drag you down and that will make all the difference in your experience." He seemed impatient for another burger. Best of luck. Joe

 

[StrawHat]

…taking advice from a select few …

I would suggest you listen to all and decide which advice applies to you.

There is a story about an insane asylum on the top of the hill and a car with a flat tire. Drivers pulls the wheel and puts the lug nuts in the hubcap. The hubcap gets jostled and the lug nuts go flying to the bottom of the hill. Driver is upset and screaming how will I ever cope with this? A passer by suggests he mount the spare by taking a lug nut from each other tire and then carefully drive to the bottom of the hill to fetch the others. The driver is impressed and comments on the shrewd advice and questions if gentleman is on the staff.

"No, I am crazy, but not stupid"

Kevin

 

[Tom S.]

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
― Mark Twain

 

[Old cop]

I'm 76 and have tried, sometimes in vain, to provide guidance for my 23 y/o grandson. He's still struggling but we talk weekly and he seems to listen. Like others have said I wish I'd paid more attention to my elders, but hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[Golddollar]

My late father had a great line:If the older generation didn't pass its knowledge down to the younger generation, we'd still be living in caves.

The funny thing is now I'M saying it.

 

[moosedog]

There are a few cultures in the world that pay reverence to the older generation, unfortunately for the most part, America is not one of them.

 

[Venom6]

Mighta been Clint Smith who said, "Young guys should hang around with old guys; old guys know stuff."

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

In my youth, I met plenty of older people with gray hair, double chins, pot bellies who had "experience" and were immature, overaged children, now, at 73 I still meet them.
"Old age is hardest for those who never grew up in the first place."

 

[Doug627]

I practiced law for 30 years. I learned one very important lesson during that time. No one takes advice. No one. Not young. Not old. Nor those in between. They want what they want and only learn after getting burned (a few times). Just the way it is.

 

[SteveA]

I've been practicing law 32 years. Had the very real privilege of practicing with my father for 9 of those years before he retired. While our practices were different a lot of the same principals applied. Chief of those being exactly as DOUG627 described.

 

[JohnRippert]

The moment I actually became a adult was the first time I told Dad he was right. Said it quite often for many years after that. I did a lot of advise dispensing to teens over the decades. I never expected them to heed it before making their own mistakes. Just remember afterwards and possibly listen more the next time.

 

[britbike1]

Mistakes

A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from others mistakes.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

They probably felt the same way about their parents.

John

 

[Alk8944]

Old, old story, Samuel Clemons wrote about his father: "But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."--Mark Twain.

 

[steelslaver]

At 25 I knew what to do at 18 at 35 I knew what to do at 25, at 45 I knew what needed to be done at 35. At 60 I knew what do do when 45 and know at 71 I have the 60s figured out


But, then the question always was "what should I be doing NOW?"

 

[DWalt]

I gave up in frustration trying to impart some of my experience and a lifetime of observations on the human condition to my teen age grandchildren. They have no interest in anything I have to say so I stopped trying. All they want to do is stare at their iPhones.