The Wise Elders: Let us follow their path
About Us | Contact Us | E-Paper
Title :    Text :    Source : 

The Wise Elders: Let us follow their path

The children of today will be the elders of tomorrow and thus their attitudes toward older people lay the ground for their future self-concept and psychological well-being

Post by on Sunday, August 14, 2022

First slide

Staying young, wild and free is a blessing that doesn’t last forever. Growing and aging is a natural process that every individual experiences. As we grow, we encounter various negative and positive experiences that change our perception of life. Older members of a family bring wisdom, calm, dependability and unconditional love that frame the views of the broader family and shape the future of younger generations. The children of today will be the elders of tomorrow and thus their attitudes toward older people lay the ground for their future self-concept and psychological well-being. 

 

Our elders, parents and grandparents, sympathetic uncles and other close relatives, have undoubtedly made sacrifices to ensure that we are in good hands from the moment we are born until we grew up. They show the rightful path which will lead to our success as they have much more experience of life than us. They have loved us unconditionally despite our blunders and triumphs. We owe it to them to ensure that they are in good hands and we reciprocate our love by caring for them or providing them with the same care they have given us. Elderly people have always been the treasure of our families. They are the ones who preserve the traditional and cultural values present in any ethnic group or community.

 

Elders are like the roots of the tree and hold the family firmly at all times and make them strong. They are the ideal mentor and from all the experiences they have accumulated over the years, they can judge a situation and give constructive advice to their children. They also play an important role in solving disputes among the family members and in the lives of their grandchildren. They spend time with them, play with them, and teach them important rules and values of life in the form of stories. The stories that they tell have a positive impact on the young minds of children. They also provide a safe and loving environment for children to grow in. They are a form of blessing for all of us and are the greatest treasure of the family, society, and nation. They have an immense ocean of knowledge, experience, and wisdom which serves as a guidepost for the younger generation.

 

Considered the custodians of wisdom, elders in many societies enjoy considerable degrees of social reverence. If people of power exercises sound judgment, he or she relies upon the wisdom of elders to reinforce important social values or to maintain a sense of social justice. In this way, elders have long been an elemental source of social well-being. We should follow the footsteps of our wise elders, as they are treasure of knowledge and wisdom that has been tested and tried since long. Elder people should be followed based on their knowledge and situation that they had experience enough to lead the young people for betterment. It not only helps in bringing a better human being within themselves but also makes them more inclined towards giving back to society whatever they could in the form of positive values and positive actions. We all have much to learn from listening to our elders, when they speak, stop what you're doing, clear your mind, listen deeply and remember what they say. In time, we will remember some of their wise words, which are likely to steer us to fruitful and healthful destinations. In the times of economic distress, such wisdom can enhance our individual and collective well-being.

 

Wise elders encourage the young to not surrender their life force as they know everyone’s path is unique and everyone has a gift to uncover, develop, and share with the community. They encourage us towards love instead of fear, openness instead of bracing against change. They encourage us to work through our fears. They know everyone’s path is unique and everyone has a gift to uncover, develop, and share with the community. They provide an embrace of support to the young and also a push to not be afraid to self-actualize. They are wise because they have been able to connect the dots in their lives and learn from all their life experiences. They are self-aware and able to self-correct. They also have spent some quality time considering their mortality. They silently worry about their future and often worry about their children and other loved ones.

 

They are wise because they have been able to connect the dots in their lives and learn from all their life experiences. They are self-aware and able to self-correct. They also have spent some quality time considering their mortality. Our elders have more knowledge and wisdom than any one of us. Their experiences through the turbulence of storms that life takes them through yield great wisdom. They’ve come so far and they’ve learned so much, we have a responsibility to learn from that wisdom. Our elders have either acquired, created or have been brought up with a set of morals, values and/or principles in their life. They may not apply to our own but the least we can do is see how those values impacted their lives. We can learn a thing or two from adopting those values. Learn the right and wrong. Have the insight into a set of rules that we can outline for ourselves to follow and live by.

 

Our elders would want the best for us and they would be more than willing to tell us what set of rules and guidelines have made them successful and hopefully, peaceful. They’ve been through ordeals that we can’t even imagine. They have weathered the many storms of life over the years, and we can learn valuable life lessons from them. As a result, we can pay attention to what they say and learn from their experiences. We can discover more about the system they lived in and the values they held dear because of our association with them and make sure we care for these people. Our elders are wiser and more knowledgeable than any of us. Their experiences amid life’s storms provide them with invaluable wisdom. They’ve come so far and learned so much; we owe it to them to learn from their knowledge and intelligence. So, be attentive to what they have to say and learn from them as much as we possibly can.

 

Respecting elders is a basic attitude or manner that is being shown to the superior person. It shows sign of gratitude towards the concerned authority and a matter of honoring someone. Respect does not deal with misbehaving the elders or disrespecting an individual. It is all about respecting their experiences of life and it comes from within the soul and not from outside world.

 

“Listen to your elder’s advice. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.” - Melchor Lim

 

“There is wisdom that comes from experience, and I am not going to stop learning from wise elders”...........Marcia Fudge

 

 

(M Ahmad is a regular writer for this newspaper and can be reached at specialachivers78@gmail.com)

Latest Post