WORDS OF THE WISE

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words of the wise

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I should have known it was going to happen. I promised myself I wouldn’t let it happen. While some of the weaker people gave in or gave up, I refused. I told myself I would be the exception… I was wrong.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I really tried. I went further than most, but in the end I was the same as everyone else… I got older. It wasn’t getting older that I was trying to avoid, it was the actions of an older person that really bothered me.

The sitting, the words of the wise, carrying on about things I thought were inconsequential when I was younger. I heard it all, politics, religion, even some good old-fashioned gossip thrown in the mix. I heard the comparisons of that generation to the next and clearly dismissed it as hogwash spouted from the mouths of older, lazier, jealous folks we use to call fossils. (a play on the age thing!)

The elders spoke of me or my “type” as if they knew me… They didn’t know me! I was different! I was smarter, I had more wisdom, I had more desire… I was dumb.

They did know me, worse yet, the knew all of us, even better than we knew ourselves. Our words didn’t count for much to that generation. Many times while trying to convince them of what I thought was their lacking of understanding, they just smiled and nodded. They knew what I was decades from comprehending, talk is cheap. They were cleverly watching our actions.

That more mature group of people wasn’t about to have an argument with a fool… I guess they possessed entirely too much wisdom for that game of tic-tac-toe.

How could I have been so wrong? The answer is even more clear than the big “E” on the eye chart from 2 feet away. — Foolishness.

To ignore the advice from people who’ve already been where we are and who we know have our best interest at heart in hindsight feels a bit like insanity.

Time has a way of changing things, whether we want it to or not. In some ways, the changes aren’t pleasant. It was relatively easy to be dumb and happy. The aches and pains purchased with the abundance of ignorance that comes with youth is a gift I’d like to return for a full refund, but I didn’t read the fine print…

All sales and actions along with the consequences that went along with them were non-refundable. Wish I’d have gotten that extended warranty on these eyes as well. I’d rather not have to wear these spectacles to see what I’m sharing with you now.

On the other side of that coin, I find the profile of a man wiser than he was when he was young. Most of us can relate to that. I realize the words spoken by the generations before us, in majority, were said because they cared. They had love for the people in their lives and in most cases they had love for their country.

That group of a little wiser people believed that the people born in this country were born into a blessing or gift from God. The generations preceding us had passion for the character of the people with God’s word as the foundation of that character.

I now sit in the place where great people once sat. I have that responsibility to share truth with the ones next in line for this chair, whether they listen or not.

When I share with them how the things of the greatest value and gratification in this world are earned and that the only one truly free life-giving gift comes from God, then they roll their eyes, what will I do?

I’ll smile as I nod my head, then I’ll keep talking, writing, and remembering.

Knowing one day, it will all make sense.

Then it will be their turn.