Let me start by admitting that I am worked up today. Pissed off. Because I believe there is a fundamental problem facing us all that is undermining our ability to flourish. Many of you will disagree with what I am about to say, but I'm still gonna say it. Quit lying to people. Quit spreading this phony propaganda that some lame opportunistic motivational speaker came up with to help himself sell books and book speaking engagements that tells you to let go of the past and only focus on your future. This is among the worst advice that anyone, but especially people trying to take their life to a higher level can ever get. Its just bullshit.
The greatest gift we get from our elderly is the benefit of their experience. More than anything else, learning from their past mistakes and the unfortunate things that happened to them gives us an edge in moving our families and our society forward. It is the fuel of growth. I admit that I like, most everyone went through a time in my life when I thought I knew more than my parents and grandparents. From 14 years of age to about 19 I thought it was amazing that my parents even survived being so clueless about how life really worked. But as I left home, went out on my own and had to suffer the consequences of making my own decisions, it was amazing how truly wise I began to remember my elderly family really were. I say remember because I now realize I had more common sense at the age of 10 than I did at 15. And somewhere around 22 I regained the proper perspective. The ages at which this happens may be different for you, but most people would admit they had this same experience. If you meet someone who is beyond 30 and they cannot say they had this experience, whatever the reason, run. You have entered the life of someone living in the dysfunctional Twilight Zone.
It is very important that we as people mature to the point of being able to let go of the pain of the past. It is critical to our growth that we not dwell on whatever suffering occurred, but only a fool fails to hang on to the lesson learned. If we do not hang on to the lesson learned, the suffering was for nothing. We must not only hang on to the lesson learned, we must talk about it whenever appropriate. Teach the lessons to our young and promote respect for the wisdom of those who have experience throughout our society. We must make it a goal of our society to return to the idea that only by understanding what the past has taught us and how to turn those lessons to our advantage can we survive and grow as a nation and individually.
Every problem that we face as a nation today has happened before. There is nothing new under the sun. It is amazing to me how few Americans realize how many times this nation has had to face difficult economic decisions, or that many of the things we complain about today actually began as a way of trying to solve an often bigger problem of the past. What changes is modern technology's ability to inform ever greater numbers of people of the problems at hand almost instantly. Truly at no time in our history have so many known what the nation was facing as today.
The problem however is that most people only know about the problems from the perspective of who ever they get their news from. Too often it is hard to get the complete unbiased truth, and so many people weigh in with their suggested solution while reporting the news, we are really not encourgaed to reflect on our own, drawing from the wisdom passed on to us by those who raised us and taught us about life. I believe that in this way we are cheated of the common sense wisdoms that many have to offer. In fact, rather than encouraging a discourse that will encourage more citizens to contribute to a solution, we are often made to feel as if we just are not smart enough to truly understand and so must depend on the wisdom of those who too often are serving an agenda not necessarily in our best interests.
And in the midst of every crisis, we are bombarded with messages at every turn, sometimes even by well meaning people promoting the idea that the holy grail is in letting go of the past. We must embrace the lessons of our past. We must honor and never forget the struggles of our people and the price they paid for us. And we do that by looking for the wisdom in the lessons learned from their experience and passing those basic truths on to each succeeding generation. Not only will we benefit from such wisdom, but we sow the seeds of self respect in our young because we have encouraged them to respect where they come from.
The greatest gift we get from our elderly is the benefit of their experience. More than anything else, learning from their past mistakes and the unfortunate things that happened to them gives us an edge in moving our families and our society forward. It is the fuel of growth. I admit that I like, most everyone went through a time in my life when I thought I knew more than my parents and grandparents. From 14 years of age to about 19 I thought it was amazing that my parents even survived being so clueless about how life really worked. But as I left home, went out on my own and had to suffer the consequences of making my own decisions, it was amazing how truly wise I began to remember my elderly family really were. I say remember because I now realize I had more common sense at the age of 10 than I did at 15. And somewhere around 22 I regained the proper perspective. The ages at which this happens may be different for you, but most people would admit they had this same experience. If you meet someone who is beyond 30 and they cannot say they had this experience, whatever the reason, run. You have entered the life of someone living in the dysfunctional Twilight Zone.
It is very important that we as people mature to the point of being able to let go of the pain of the past. It is critical to our growth that we not dwell on whatever suffering occurred, but only a fool fails to hang on to the lesson learned. If we do not hang on to the lesson learned, the suffering was for nothing. We must not only hang on to the lesson learned, we must talk about it whenever appropriate. Teach the lessons to our young and promote respect for the wisdom of those who have experience throughout our society. We must make it a goal of our society to return to the idea that only by understanding what the past has taught us and how to turn those lessons to our advantage can we survive and grow as a nation and individually.
Every problem that we face as a nation today has happened before. There is nothing new under the sun. It is amazing to me how few Americans realize how many times this nation has had to face difficult economic decisions, or that many of the things we complain about today actually began as a way of trying to solve an often bigger problem of the past. What changes is modern technology's ability to inform ever greater numbers of people of the problems at hand almost instantly. Truly at no time in our history have so many known what the nation was facing as today.
The problem however is that most people only know about the problems from the perspective of who ever they get their news from. Too often it is hard to get the complete unbiased truth, and so many people weigh in with their suggested solution while reporting the news, we are really not encourgaed to reflect on our own, drawing from the wisdom passed on to us by those who raised us and taught us about life. I believe that in this way we are cheated of the common sense wisdoms that many have to offer. In fact, rather than encouraging a discourse that will encourage more citizens to contribute to a solution, we are often made to feel as if we just are not smart enough to truly understand and so must depend on the wisdom of those who too often are serving an agenda not necessarily in our best interests.
And in the midst of every crisis, we are bombarded with messages at every turn, sometimes even by well meaning people promoting the idea that the holy grail is in letting go of the past. We must embrace the lessons of our past. We must honor and never forget the struggles of our people and the price they paid for us. And we do that by looking for the wisdom in the lessons learned from their experience and passing those basic truths on to each succeeding generation. Not only will we benefit from such wisdom, but we sow the seeds of self respect in our young because we have encouraged them to respect where they come from.
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