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At the summation of my freshman year, I have found myself in awe of the rapidity by which this past year has elapsed. Each month of this year has been spent planning for the next: which classes will I take next semester? Which jobs will I apply to this summer? When do I start thinking about law school? Throughout all of these trials, I have lost sight of the fact that I am in the present moment: that I have planned for my life to be the way it is right now, and I should enjoy the fruits of my past labor.
I have found that I have arrived at many conclusions about myself, life, time, and the interplay between all three.
This is nothing new.
Each time that I arrive at conclusion such as “Time is passing by so fast, I have to cherish the moment” or “As I get older, time is passing by faster” or “College will be over before I know it”, I am reminded of the many millions of times that I have heard these warnings beforehand by parents, grandparents and other elders. I am not original. I am just not listening to those around me.
In the innocence of youthhood, I would brush off these warnings as just the pleadings of those who regretted not doing more with the time they had. I had never felt as though time was moving quickly at all- time was moving at a snail’s pace in High School. The world was open, time was abundant, and I could do anything, anytime.
It is only now that I am realizing, however pitifully, that all of those warnings were valid. They are warnings that I will give to those who are younger than I am, and I can only hope that they listen.
This brings me to the crux of my essay: respecting the wisdom of our elders.
There has been a developing attitude in the United States and similar nations that the elders of our society are burdens. Burdens to our wallets, our careers, our resources, and our time. With nothing more to add to the capitalist machine, elders are deemed fruitless and are tossed in nursing homes or other facilities that merely serve as holding cells before death. This type of thinking is a product of a me-first social trend. This trend stresses the development of a person in their career. How successful can you become? How much money can you amass? While this thinking is not inherently evil, it leaves no room for those who are retired. While focusing on our educations and our careers, we can only spare two phone calls a year to our grandparents.
This is flawed.
With such little contact with those who have lived the lives that we are currently living, many are left without a moral direction or spiritual path. We seek solace within those who are currently struggling alongside us, yet not within those who have suffered the same struggles and have overcome them. We as a society hardly seek the advice and the prose of those who are well versed in life, grit, integrity, and perseverance by merely living a long life. When I am struggling between balancing family and work, why do I turn to those who are also struggling instead of those who have discovered, to some extent, the balance that really works? I am drawn to a quote by Cicero that I have come across in a reading this semester,
“For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.” – Cicero
This quote encapsulates the essence of my dilemma. While I am aware that I may not be able to go skiing with my grandfather, and while I may never be able to work alongside my grandmother, I am still able to listen to them. Listen to advice and warnings of the many trials that life has to offer. And as I alluded to at the start of this piece, I now have the foresight not to brush the words of my elders aside. No matter who they are or what they’ve done, anyone who has lived a long life has undoubtedly sustained many hardships and struggles. Through eighty years of life, our elders are able to sympathize with our challenges and frustrations, and they are able to offer advice from their lives. As a society, we must be better about respecting the wisdom of our elders- respecting the fact that they too were once our age, and they are so valuable through their mere existence. Thus, I offer a revision of an age-old adage,
“In with the old and in with the new.”
Caleb Aridano is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2024. He is studying history, political science, and English at the University of Louisville.