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> Older people in this category are now reluctant to say that they have accrued some useful knowledge to share and wisdom to impart > Other cultures figured ou

> Older people in this category are now reluctant to say that they have accrued some useful knowledge to share and wisdom to impart > Other cultures figured out that older people are generally wiser. The more days you live, the more things you know. When you’re young you have beauty and when you’re old you have wisdom. Only this dumb country wants to posit wisdom and beauty in youth. Being old doesn't guarantee a person has any wisdom, likewise being young doesn't guarantee beauty. Ironically, I think the assumption of wisdom in the old is the reason so many old people lack it, because it encourages them to think that aging is enough to gain it, instead of actively cultivating lifelong habits of: going outside their comfort zone, reflecting on their experiences, articulating and organizing those learnings, etc.

FrontierPsych 4y ago
I'm older, and I have always thought likewise, even when young. However, if a person IS older and wise, it is very much in a younger person's best interests to find someone like that and learn from them - have a mentor. Being young doesn't mean you are beautiful compared to others, but it sure does mean that most people (not all) are more beautiful when they are younger...a LOT more beautiful. I look at people from high school and want to throw up in my mouth they are so ugly, and then I always realize that I am that old and want throw up some more. As far as the last paragraph goes, some people stop actively cultivating those habits when they are 6-years-old. Generally, what people are like at 6 is what they are like at 66. I've known a friend for 55 years, and he's the same dude as when we were 10. Same everything. Not saying everyone is like this, but you know...most of us are, let's get real. Personally, I think most of us respect the age because of maybe genetic, maybe culture, whatever it is, but first, we had to listen to our parents who were ANCIENT HUGE PEOPLE who knew everything when we were small, and then our teachers and other adults until we are,oh, maybe 12 when we reach puberty and start making our own way in the world. But even then, our older teachers literally know stuff we don't up to 12 grade and in university. Those remnants of the proper respect that we had when we were 1 or 2 or 10 years old of older people stays with us - not just us but our parents, their parents, our children, our children's children. It's different with different people. Some people believe everything told to them by their parents, as soon as my parents told me about religion when I was 4-years-old, I figured it out it was 100% bullshit, so I always had a problem with authority. But, why do 96% of people believe in a god? Because someone older than them told them to do that, and people don't change their minds once it is embedded in there. Same with authority and age. Furthermore, in days gone by, before universal education and book printing, there was no way to "store knowledge" like there is in books. And computers. So a 15-year-old couldn't go to the internet and look up stuff his parent or teachers don't know. It didn't exist. So I don't know if listening is in our DNA = those who listened to their elders tended to survive and reproduce because they learned how to look out for the lion or bear or whatever. Nobody could look up online how to watch out for lions and know instantly. Tradition is strong. We still use a calendar that was originally put together 2000 years ago, with only one update in all that time. We are using 60 minutes and 60 seconds from the Sumerians of 3,500 years ago. That's what I say. Does that sound wise of full of shit stupid, as I'm older? Or just boring and obvious? Doesn't matter, I mainly wrote it for myself.

FrontierPsych 4y ago

I'm older, and I have always thought likewise, even when young. However, if a person IS older and wise, it is very much in a younger person's best interests to find someone like that and learn from them - have a mentor. Being young doesn't mean you are beautiful compared to others, but it sure does mean that most people (not all) are more beautiful when they are younger...a LOT more beautiful. I look at people from high school and want to throw up in my mouth they are so ugly, and then I always realize that I am that old and want throw up some more. As far as the last paragraph goes, some people stop actively cultivating those habits when they are 6-years-old. Generally, what people are like at 6 is what they are like at 66. I've known a friend for 55 years, and he's the same dude as when we were 10. Same everything. Not saying everyone is like this, but you know...most of us are, let's get real. Personally, I think most of us respect the age because of maybe genetic, maybe culture, whatever it is, but first, we had to listen to our parents who were ANCIENT HUGE PEOPLE who knew everything when we were small, and then our teachers and other adults until we are,oh, maybe 12 when we reach puberty and start making our own way in the world. But even then, our older teachers literally know stuff we don't up to 12 grade and in university. Those remnants of the proper respect that we had when we were 1 or 2 or 10 years old of older people stays with us - not just us but our parents, their parents, our children, our children's children. It's different with different people. Some people believe everything told to them by their parents, as soon as my parents told me about religion when I was 4-years-old, I figured it out it was 100% bullshit, so I always had a problem with authority. But, why do 96% of people believe in a god? Because someone older than them told them to do that, and people don't change their minds once it is embedded in there. Same with authority and age. Furthermore, in days gone by, before universal education and book printing, there was no way to "store knowledge" like there is in books. And computers. So a 15-year-old couldn't go to the internet and look up stuff his parent or teachers don't know. It didn't exist. So I don't know if listening is in our DNA = those who listened to their elders tended to survive and reproduce because they learned how to look out for the lion or bear or whatever. Nobody could look up online how to watch out for lions and know instantly. Tradition is strong. We still use a calendar that was originally put together 2000 years ago, with only one update in all that time. We are using 60 minutes and 60 seconds from the Sumerians of 3,500 years ago. That's what I say. Does that sound wise of full of shit stupid, as I'm older? Or just boring and obvious? Doesn't matter, I mainly wrote it for myself.