Getting youth to gain from the wisdom of elders. A question that has caused concern and consternation since man became first aware or self-aware of the self. I find this question in my winter years of life and practice of a martial system. It concerns me now because I give due consideration to what I could have been if I has only taken the time and the effort to learn then as a youth what I am learning and know now as an elder.
Elder in the sense of a martial system who has practiced and trained for approximately thirty-six years. Three plus decades and I tended, except for the last decade, to spend an exorbitant amount of time on the more physical aspects.
I found ten years ago the secret to life. The secret to all that entails living a good life. The secret is not really a secret but obvious if you look, see and then truly see it - balance. Yin-Yang or In-Yo. That which is symbolized by the great Tai Chi symbol of the Yin-n-Yang.
It can be expressed by the term "hindsight." It is often late in life we understand a situation or event of our lives that it could have gone far better only if ..... hindsight would be better served if youth could gain from it as told by elders. Sensei are elders too in many cases - not all and not alot, just a few. When I say Sensei I mean one that has gained such insight so that his or her hindsight can benefit those under their guidance. Say around the winter years with a modicum of experience, knowledge and understanding (thirty years or more) of what it is they are trying to improve both for themselves and those who look to them as one who has come before.
Youth all to often, I am guilty of this as well, tend to discard things of importance for that something that often is fleeting. Speed and gratification are necessary in the balance yet are not the end-all of all things. It is a shame that sometimes the perceived boring and not cool things are necessary to give more balance or depth and breadth to those things that do, in time, give gratification, knowledge and meaning.
Simply waxing philosophical today :-)
You can't teach experience.
ReplyDeleteBut you can learn from that experience.
ReplyDeleteYou can take a horse to water ...
DeleteGiven the opportunity to drink or not to drink .... that is the conundrum.
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