Old Vs Young

When I was young, I was always told how to feel, how to think, what to do. It was always “I know better than you, so you should listen to me”. You’re young, you don’t understand this now but when you get older you will.

Now if you know me you know, none of this sat well with me; especially the concept of I know better because I’m older. Maybe it’s my issue with authority; maybe it’s my stubborn streak. Or it could just be that I hate stupidity and knowing that knowledge is acquired by research and wanting to know the world around you. While wisdom can be had with age not everyone has it.

I was always that kid that when told something; the first word out of my mouth was “why”? Then I would get, because I said so. Because I’m older than you. Your not supposed to question or ask why. You want blind faith? Then earn it and even then I will probably still seek to know. Journey to learn, not be satisfied with what’s in front of me.

Don’t get me wrong I had many knowledgeable adults who churned the fires of my learning. I can tell you about a string of history teachers that taught me by giving me the information and allowing me to decide. But in all fairness they did not propagate the you're too young to know fire. They allowed me to hear multiple sides and allow me to decide. Or better yet they lit the fire and I went out looking for kindling to stoke the fire of knowledge. Now I can’t say I took them at their word but I can say I took what they taught me and went out to find out for myself.

Even now I don’t take one word for it, one way of being told. I look for many thoughts on the subject and with all the evidence I then make a decision. Heck the one thing I do know is that I don’t know. This keeps me hungry, this keeps me searching, this keeps me growing.

Now on the other side of things is the young that think they now everything. I knew many of these then and I know many of these now. You can’t be told anything because the answer always is I know. This wouldn’t be that bad if people actually went looking for the information to formulate their own thoughts. But like the old the young likes to just know things from either being told or few sources. Or they don’t know and don’t even care to know. This is definitely counter productive because not understanding there is a world around you that you barely know or understand can come back at you.

Then you have those that do research but all their research is just to support what ever it is they are trying to prove. They dive head long into what they have already decided is the truth and will not listen to anything that does not prove their side. This kind of stubbornness can cause much harm and lead people to be led. This is not limited to either spectrum both sides engage in this.

I know, I know your telling yourself, what does any of this have to do with old and young? It’s the beginning and the end of the way people think. When your young you’re told that you do not know anything that when your older you know more. So as the young we take this with us and when we are older we believe this and force it on the young. See it’s a vicious cycle that allows stupidity to prosper and us to be controlled wether young or old.

I don’t know about you but I refuse to play the role forced upon me. I didn’t like it when I was young and I was told what I was supposed to know. I definitely don’t like it now that I am older. I will decide for myself, thank you very much. But what do I know I have a problem with authority and I can be very stubborn. Yet knowledge as everything is a journey we must embark on and decide what is what is. Wisdom is a destination that we reach many times as the journey of knowledge continues. Yet if you embark on your journey with the blinders of I know, then do you know and can you know.