Define wisdom? Essentially, wisdom is simply life experience. Wisdom = been there, done that. I think that we must be very careful assuming that wisdom can even be shared. I’m of a mind that wisdom is personal in nature, and while we may listen to the words of “wise old ones”, they are nothing but words until our experience either confirms or denies those words. If there is any real transferrable wisdom, it is in observing what the so-called wise ones do, and less what they say. Ultimately, wisdom is how one acts that demonstrates the understanding that comes from experience. That’s a humbling thought, huh?
I agree mostly with what DEB has to say here; but the concept of serendipity is not without merit. If I were born in most non-Westernized countries, I would be part of a family that does nor send grandpa and grandma off to nursing homes, a family that reveres their accumulation of wisdom from experience and simply values their existence as blood kin.
Family in America has been trashed by economics, not by encroaching liberalism. In the 50s a man could support family. By the 60s it took husband and wife to achieve the same standard of living. This meant daycare, latchkey kids, baby sitters, nursing homes, etc., etc. In a consumer society those persons who can consume are revered. This leaves out the very young and the very old. IMO, wisdom, if it matters at all here and now, is being able to see what goes wrong and to propose solutions that encompass the value of all of us.
I certainly agree with your analysis. My grandmother did most of the raising of me because my parents were working so hard. However, my growing up period was in the 30s and 40s and not in the fifties. But you are correct about the ability of a man to work while the mother stayed home to raise the children and still they could buy a home and own a car.
So what is your solution? Women either work and not have children, or be stay at home moms. What about divorce, sometimes a marraige becomes unbearable, and it is better to divorce.
Do we demand that corporations pay a living wage. Ford did this. Sure women could work in his company, but the minute they married he fired them.
as far as i know the “wisdom” of the older folks has always been respected. i think recently though with the rapid increases in technology and incredible changes in society it has left a lot of older folks in modern times dated and so absolutely confused and out of place that theyre treated with less respect than they normally would be.
if you think about it 40 years ago blacks were still in really bad shape. 70 years ago women werent voting… the people that were fine with it then are still alive today.
aspacia,
Good critique well received. The womens’ movement really goes back to the 19th century. Its 20th century reprise is part of a continual struggle, not some new affront to the concept of family. Women’s lib, by the 1960s was long overdue. But I do not believe that it had a major effect on family. It included a minority of women. Germaine Greer was a fad. Betty Friedan evolved in ideas from blame it all on the male to let’s realize we are all in this together. Most stayed home in the 60s. They did not march in the streets or burn their bras. The carnival that is news media always describes the extremes, not the median. The real break-up of family was economic.
