What Ever Happened to Intergenerational Wisdom Sharing?

 

                    This guest post is from Regent Law student David Servin:

 Grandpa Used to Share

There was a time when three or four generations would live together in the same home. Today, we're all so busy, we’re more mobile, and families don't always stay close to each other. As we age, we are more likely to depend on Social Security and government programs to sustain us.

People tend to transition from owning a home to becoming an empty nester to downsizing to a smaller place when the kids leave home.  Eventually, they transition to senior living communities, senior efficiency apartments, assisted living facilities, and ultimately, nursing homes.

There was a time when grandpa would teach his grandson how to fix a car or install a kitchen faucet. The family ate dinner and watched the evening news together. Grandpa would share his stories about when FDR was president, or what it was like during World War II or the Great Depression. But now, much of that intergenerational wisdom-sharing isn't happening.

Intergenerational Wisdom

A lot of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom used to be passed down as young generations were mentored, building on the successes and lessons of their ancestors. Today, with all our technological advances, elders seem to be out of sync with the use of electronic devices and social media. The generational divide seems to be widening. Younger generations view their elders as incapable of many modern things, and older people seem to get pushed to the side and ignored.

But here's the big hidden secret: The elder generation in the United States today is a fantastic national treasure, and that treasure is largely being wasted! These elders have lived for 70, 80, 90, or even a hundred years. They’ve witnessed things that younger adults have never seen.

Elder women were the "Rosie the Riveters" back in World War II. They worked hard in factories while their men were at war. They made all the food from scratch, washed laundry and soiled baby diapers by hand, sewed clothes, darned socks, hung the laundry on a clothesline, and started fires in the fireplace - all without modern appliances. The fact is, they were tough ladies! Same with the men!

We may think we're smart and informed, but we're headed down that same road to being sidelined as an older adult.  Really?  Not me! There will soon be over a million people in the United States who are over a hundred years old. I do not want to be sidelined.

It's Time for a Change

It's time for a paradigm shift in elder care. We talk about "empowerment" for young people like it's some kind of buzzword. But we don't think about empowerment when we think of older people.  We think in terms of "care."  Well, that must change!

We must get back to realizing the tremendous national treasure that we have in our elders. Before my dad died a few years ago, I filmed him telling his life story. I was surprised to hear about all the things he had done, what he conquered, his failures and successes, his regrets, the things he was proud of, the events of his day, and his life experiences.  He was a reservoir of great wisdom!

 We are at the point where nearly every man who served in World War II is gone. When I was in elementary school, I talked with my 101-year-old great-grandmother who was alive when Abraham Lincoln was president. Yes - that's true! If anyone cares, there is much to learn from the elder generation.

So, let's recognize our elder parents for the national treasure that they are, and let's try to help them live fulfilling elder lives. There's much that they can do. With the proper assistance, they can still learn and grow. They can even learn to use Facebook. And they can potentially still go out in the world and do things. George Bush (the senior) even parachuted out of an airplane a few years back.

Here's the thing: If we don't value our elder citizens and treat them like the national treasure they are, what can we expect we will be treated like when we are their age? We need to change the picture now!

The sad part is that many of these negative societal changes were forcefully imposed on us. There were movements during the postmodernist era that intentionally separated young people from the wisdom of the past. Young people were told that there was no reason to respect their elders, to adhere to the tenets of their religious faith, or to value the wisdom of the founding fathers. Instead, there was an intentional separation of intergenerational wisdom sharing. The goal was to impose rapid societal change by separating young people from the knowledge and wisdom of the past.

Moral relativism rules the day. People decide right and wrong based on what they THINK instead of on the understanding and wisdom from ancient times that had previously been passed down generationally.

"It is said that an intelligent person learns from his own mistakes, but a person with wisdom learns from other's mistakes."

When we fail to engage in intergenerational wisdom sharing, we lose an excellent opportunity to be wise. Instead, we become destined to make mistakes and learn the hard way because we have lost generations of wisdom that were previously passed down.

Let's start the movement for the empowerment of our elder citizens. Empowerment is not just for young people - it restores people to their families!