Here is my theory, and please pay attention because I've worked hard on this and put in precious seconds of the very limited time I've just realized I have left on earth.
As we age, we become increasingly stupid. Eventually, if we wrinkle up in an appealing way and manage not to drool, if we assume a slightly crafty look and say very little, our stupidity is sometimes mistaken for wisdom. And usually, it is younger people who make the mistake.
This is because, at 29 or 35, for example, we are possessed of the odd illusion that eventually life will make sense. It's what we cling to as life buffets us about like little rubber dingys in the midst of a category five hurricane - that feeble little hope that we just hang in there, we will achieve wisdom. The notion that the Monty Python sketch that is, in fact, our daily life, will assemble itself into a coherent picture and we will achieve the big Aha moment.
As resident "wise woman" in the lives of some younger friends, let me assure you that it is a Monty Python sketch, so we should all eat, drink and be merry. I believe that's from Ecclesiastes, originally. From the New Testament: Jesus wept. And by the way, didn't live to be old.
10 comments:
The wisdom that comes with age, in a life lived attentively, is that it is not supposed to make sense.
no sense...just is...and if we pay attention some moments are filled with indescribable joy and some with wrenching pain...and this too shall pass...
Thus spake ( is that a word) the Red -Headed deity and all was right with the world........now in true M.P. tradition I am going into the garden to do the fish dance......herring anyone?
Wisdom is understanding that you are ignorant.
Yeah, I consider you a wise woman. But not because you're older than me.
I consider you salty in that you've made a helluva lot of mistakes, and had a helluva lot of adventures.
I consider you wise because you know that. You acknowledge all the craziness, and do so with a fair measure of perspective.
Most boomers don't seem to know what happened, only that is was mostly about them. Now they just sit around counting jellybeans, vaguely wondering where all that thunder went. I'll do the same thing someday...
Jesus, Ecclesiates, and Col. Sanders too all ate, drank, were merry, and wept, probably regularly.
Or perhaps I'm just writing a paper on nutty ol' bitches and needed a long-term case study.
Kiss kiss,
-marko
Wisdom seems to consist of the knowledge that we know nothing, and of being present, in the "now."
However, moments when I'm not in the "Now"...(many)and am anxious as hell about knowing nothing, I write. It stops me from chewing my fingernails.
Probably better to put on my fabulous pickled herring earrings and go dance a stately gavotte. Herhimnbryn will obviously join me.
Marko...I'm still laughing over your assessment of the boomers (and wondering if crying might not be appropriate)...and if you do write the paper, I'm your nutty old bitch case study, for sure! kiss kiss to you too.
Thank you all for comments.
Hear, hear! Thus speaketh the wise old woman. Oh bother. I've not been paying much attention, have I?
I agree with Darkmind.
We might as well enjoy what we have, rather than waste what little time we are given trying to explain it all away.
You know I reckon they would be great earrings and yes the gavotte would suit me fine!
Sending you a deep and mannerly curtsey.
Ariel..you do NOT have to pay attention except when you feel like it. Or there is the fine tradition of leaving a stone to show you dropped by- (0)when you aren't up to commenting.
Mella, I can't help trying to explain life. I am a compulsive searcher for answers. It's a curse.
H. I knew you'd have room on your dance card and would appreciate the couture earrings (environmentally friendly, too. Degrade as you wear them.)
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