Colour of Jade

The accusation, "you are just jaded" is unfair like many of this kind: "old fashioned" and "over the hill" etc. While they do hold a truth, it is an innocent state to be "over the hill". It's a hill that everyone climbs or shall. No one escapes. I recall during my working days, a young person, fresh out of university, made these remarks about those on staff who were barely forty years old. This individual, full of new knowledge, had little wisdom, and it made me think of myself at that age and how I, too, thought I knew it all. My mind was crammed full of fresh, I thought, ideas and methods of getting the job done. I knew what I thought would be short-cuts in the process, to just-do-it without all the hoop-lah of what my elders appeared to insist upon. It all seemed quite simple to me. Years later, I learned about wisdom. Wisdom is achieved in making mistakes and learning from them to come up with a better plan. What looks like a simple and quick solution, while an excellent idea, is just that: an idea. When some ideas are applied in a real situation with all of its complexities, it may not be  simple and easy. Dealing with people is complicated, especially. While one opinion about solutions seems valid, it is a cooperative effort including all ideas, that leaves everyone feeling respected and happy. That takes sacrifice, often, of one's own opinions to achieve a betterment for the whole group's success. Successful elders know this. Youth has it to learn. There's a saying that "the fires of youth, are of straw". They flare up gloriously but only for an instant, and then they are gone. On the other hand, to be characterized as "jaded" likely means an idea substance that has hardened: the ideas and practices of the experienced who are not as flexible. There are truths in that, of course, but to toss out the old and adopt only the new, is also dangerous. Each side, if sides there are, needs to be tried and tested. The elder's job is to demonstrate in some way, what has worked in the past. At the same time, the elder must keep an open mind to newness and the freshness of aspects that could enhance and enrich past attributes. It's the way that the elder learned in his lifetime and now, the young must find their place. The old will be not merely replaced but add to what becomes stronger in the combined process. Everything  we do in some way, arises from what came before. Old seed can become new creation.