Older and Wiser...probably not

I have friends who talk about the good old days and I wish they would stop. Truth is, it was a struggle and many of us kept wishing things would be easier. We just refuse to remember that it was not as easy as we’d like to remember. 

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. These are minor complaints, but for many of us, life was cruel and harder 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)? Many of the talents and experiences we hold as important are so long obsolete that no one even knows anymore what they were or why they were important. I taught for over 40 years, but I have some friends who never stops telling me about their 37 years’ experience as a teacher. I strongly suspect that they didn't really have 37 years experience. Rather, I think they had one year’s experience, 37 times. (There is a difference you know.)

Those of us who are “older and wiser” need to start facing the truth. What we had and learned is important, but we still need to keep 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, as I just wrote this article on one. I have to admit to myself that maybe I still need to learn. The other day I heard myself say, “What do I need one of those apps for my cell phones for? ” Deja vu all over again.

So for my friends who want respect because they are older, please get off your old, obsolete soap box and stop telling me that because you are older, you deserve respect because you are wiser. If you want respect, and to be thought of by others as truly older and wiser, you need to be seen still learning, creating, imagining, believing, sharing, producing memories while embracing the new and honouring the past.

Thanks to Paul  for the ideas