When Old People Talk, You Should (Probably) Listen

First of all, this is not an “old(er) people are always right” article. Nor is it a “You should listen to me because I’ve got s̶o̶m̶e̶ more than a few gray hairs” article (I’m not old- YOU’RE old!). And finally, it is not a “Dammit!! I listened to my elders, and therefore so should you!” article.

This is an article that is the result of some deep personal reflection. It is the result of contemplation and observation of the families of both myself and those in my inner circle. It’s the result of observing some of the positive and negative of the culture that I grew up in, and the witnessing of macro-level societal trends. It’s the result of living long enough to recognize foreshadowing of the dark things I learned about in history books potentially becoming problems again.

Here’s the TL;DR. With minimal ability to pass on knowledge, history, and generational wisdom to our progeny (and their progeny), on both a personal and a societal level, we’re doomed to making the same mistakes over and over again. Excluding exceptional circumstances, there’s a frighteningly likely possibility that most of the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of life that you accumulate could fade away when you pass on, because your ability to pass on your hard-earned lessons will be dictated by your children’s insistence on learning some of those lessons on their own. That has potential ramifications on their lives. In lockstep, we seem to also be forgetting larger societal lessons that our grandparents and great grandparents…