There is a common expression in our society, which goes something like, “with age comes wisdom”. As I rapidly approach middle age I’ve begun to realize just how true the adage is and perhaps more importantly how ironic the truth of it is. When I was young, say a teenager or even a twenty something, I realized to a certain degree that I had a lot to learn, but I didn’t guess, nor could I even have conceived of the truth which I now suspect.
That truth is a simple one and yet somehow all encompassing, it is this; the wisdom which comes with age is the slowly dawning realization of just how little you know. You think, you in fact believe when you’re young that some things are certain knowledge, things like, ‘you have a fairly firm grip on who you are and what you believe’, or subconsciously at least ‘you can have and keep a sense of security in this world’. Most of us, I believe, in our youth see this world and our own personal worlds as solid and stable. It never occurs to us that seismic shifts can and will happen in our lives that will leave us quaking in bewilderment, unable to comprehend not only what happened, but how it was even possible. These life altering experiences take our senses, our realities, our supposed knowledge and shake them as if we’d been living in a giant snow globe of which we were completely unaware. It is then I believe that we begin to comprehend the truth, lose our innocent illusions and thus gain wisdom. The price for our new found knowledge is often times high, and our old, yet freshly opened eyes do not find much comfort in what we now perceive, but once seen we can not unsee, we can only move forward in the ironic certainty that we do not know much of anything.
