Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXCIII

I had set my cruise to seventy-four on that Texas two lane highway with a seventy mph speed limit, yet compared to the other traffic, I appeared to be just another pokey old senior citizen who was in everyone else's way. After all, wasn't it obvious to me that the general flow of traffic was going much faster than the posted speed limit? There was a group of four vehicles riding my tail just waiting for an opportunity to get around me. Finally, their chance came and all four of them, a Dodge Ram, an old model S10 pickup, a Honda Pilot, and a white Ford F-150 with a headache rack and a company name on the door, darted past me like I was sitting still. Soon they were all out of sight, but just a couple miles up the road, I saw a Texas Highway Patrol had the Honda Pilot pulled over. I passed up that Honda like he was sitting still. (Actually, he was.) Yep, even I, the slow poke old man, got to the next town before he did, and I didn't even have to pay a fine. There's a saying I've heard down through the years, from both young and old alike: "With age comes wisdom." Yes, I know people say that, but really, how many believe it? I don't know any younger person who wants to act like an old man or woman. How many people will look at an older person and determine that they're going to make that man or woman a role model? How many would sincerely ask for a few tidbits of that wisdom? What has experience taught our more senior friends and family members that would help us in the struggles we face on a daily basis? Well, as a person who has lived more than six decades, I'll share some of what little wisdom I have accumulated. One of the first things that comes to mind is the fact that what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, no matter how many people are doing it. Referring back to the first paragraph, we see that just because the general flow of traffic was greatly exceeding the speed limit, it didn't make it acceptable. You see, our older and wiser neighbors have learned not to allow the phrase "everybody's doing it" affect their decisions. That's one of the reasons the older generation refuses to follow every short term fashion trend of the day. (They also know the quickest way to kill a fashion trend is for old people to start wearing it.) Experience has also taught them that trivial minutiae is not worth getting worked up over. In other words, Grandpa and Grandma may have disagreements, but they know that by tomorrow they will be forgotten, so they're not going to lose any sleep over them tonight, while their younger counterparts will stay puffed up for days over the same disputes. They have also learned that it can save a lot of trouble and heartache if they look to a more knowledgeable individual to help them solve problems that crop up. In other words, they have learned to ask for advice. I can almost hear an aging mother telling her daughter, "The grass is NOT greener on the other side of the fence." The daughter replies, "But there's a devil on this side." Mom's response, "There's one on the other side too, and the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know." That list could go on and on, but you get the message. Our more elder protégés have gained more wisdom simply because they have more experience. They're not smarter....just wiser. This is generally true for most of our senior citizens, but definitely not with all of them. I like a quote I saw posted by my friend, Gil Martin: With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone. Preston