“When you are young, they assume you know nothing”.
While nonchalantly listening to some songs on a lazy afternoon, a specific lyric struck a chord and pulled me from my deep reverie. I shook it off like it was nothing but, as time progressed, my thoughts spiraled down into this rabbit hole of ideas. “Do age really means you’re wise?”
Through the years, this question has bamboozled a lot of people, divided groups, and subconsciously created an imaginary wall between the youth and people of age. It was left unresolved, an open-ended interrogation that was meant to be answered on our own. But if you ask me this, my response is a ricochet. What if the answer is yes and no at the same time?
It is said that experience is the best teacher, the one that teaches through failures. Age equates experience. This logic means that age is a measurement of experience-based learning. This is partially true. We learn through experiences, however, every human in this whole planet has a different path in life, no one’s occurrence is the same; which rebuts that not all that we learn from experience is automatically applicable to others. You may experience a rougher life than others but it doesn’t mean that the lesson you learned is significantly fitting to everyone.
However, this doesn’t mean that if it’s inapplicable to everyone it is junk, trash, or void; others can still benefit from it. You might have different walks but at the end of the day, you’re still walking on the same road.
Speaking of road, do you believe in crossroads? One ancestor told me that you can sell your soul on crossroads. I did dig about this and this was a straightforward legend. Our elders have passed certain wisdom upon us, from how to cook properly to downright tips on beating aswang, they taught us many things. Or so did they?
As time marches on, some ideas stole the spotlight while others faded in the background. Studies in different fields either make or break these paradigms. But to be brutally honest, most of them crumble nowadays.
For example, one popular belief is that breaking a glass or mirror brings you bad luck. In the light of the modern day, is bad luck even a thing? Even religion doesn’t conform to this. Science and Religion agreeing about one thing really speaks something, something bad, I guess?
Education nowadays is far more superior and in-depth compared to yesteryears. Every once in a while a new school of thought is born in every corner of the Earth. Academically, young people are much smarter; the literal definition of textbook smart. They learn thru classes and not by experience.
Even though today’s youth is considered academically smart and can crush any general knowledge quiz, this doesn’t mean that they have the wisdom of the past. Our ancestors instilled superstitions, legends, and even folklores as our guide in living in this journey. This stuff protects us from thinking irrationally and makes us think before taking steps that may create havoc. Being knowledgeable doesn’t mean you’re right all the time.
So thus, with Wisdom, not all is factual.
We can still argue that age equates to being wise. But age can be anything but a measurement of something that is very subjective. Maybe, there is a reason why this question was left unanswered. It is there for us, not to invalidate anyone but to rather listen to each other. Sometimes, we must accept that we are wrong and push what is right. But, at the end of the day, being wise is not the only weapon we need. – NWI
