In the ‘60s the youth loved the saying, “Don’t
trust anyone over 30.” But all of us of the 60’s are long past the 30’s now, so
who do we trust now?
When I was a lad I asked my father
something like just when, at what age, do you have to get to in order to make
sense of life, or when is it you can trust your brain? A question something
like that. I was also serious in that I realized I was a long ways from that
point and wondered if it would ever happen. I remember being younger, 2nd
grade I believed and thought, here I am six or seven years old and I’ve been
this little kid all my life, and all my life the adults I know have always been
adults. I thought life was a plot, that kids would always remain kids and
adults would always be adults – we were doomed to those roles forever. It was
an upsetting thought. Adults romanticize about childhood, but kids like me just
want to get it over with.
But back to my question to my father. He took
my question seriously, thought a bit, and then said, “Forty.” My father was a
very wise man.
His answer gave me solace and I have
thought about it over the years and each time I’ve concluded he was right. At
forty your frontal lobe has developed (if it ever will), the part of your brain that contains your moral
character, your ethical governor, the part that let’s you have a clue as to
what is right and what is wrong. Also, by the time you are forty and have
studied a reasonable amount, you have developed a significant enough knowledge
base to make pretty descent decisions. It is also that time in life in life
when you generally have the most responsibility; responsibility for family,
community, citizen, job; things like that.
However, now they say the new 30 is 20, the
new 50 is 30 and things like that, so is everything sliding back a bit? In Old
Testament times you became an adult and had adult responsibilities in our
teens. Now that time of accountability is much much later even though our
bodies develop earlier. God has an odd sense of humor it seems to me.
Today one can wonder if some folk, even the
majority, ever grow up. They’ve got data coming out of their ears, but don’t
seem to have a clue as to what to do with it. Christmas remains a childish
thing where we concentrate more on what we get as presents rather than a time
to show our love and care for each other in giving presents as token and
expressions of those feelings. Thanksgiving is blown out of the water with
Black Friday and frenzied greed and buy buy buy.
Hmmm, can you trust anyone under 60? Is 60
the new 40? As a septuagenarian I think about these things. Now where did I
leave my shoes? And, did I write this article before?
As I've aged myself, I've also come to see the irrelevance of age in relationships, especially friendships which don't have the same naturally imposed generational structure as family. I think of two of my closest friends as an example. One is 27 and the other just turned 71. They are both insightful, interesting, intelligent and fun to spend time with. And both are very wise, each in their own way
ReplyDeleteWell said. Wisdom is more a state of mind that anything else. Wisdom is being able to stand in awe of the insights of wee children as well as elders and all those in between. When I was a youth dude in the church I always liked linking retired folk with teenagers as they have a lot in common. As one teen said of a retired man, "He's got his own kind of cool." Wise on both their parts as are your comments. Personally, I've never been able to figure out how old I am and act accordingly. I think of everyone as my friend until they prove otherwise, and they have to really work at it to do so. Thanks for the comment.
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