No 1126 of Living Life Series 1
Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 highlights the need to respect elders in all societies and in all religions.
The wealth of know-how through past experiences of the old cannot be learnt from books. The young may have academic knowledge (paper knowledge) but they lack know-how. They lack the solid experiences of the old. They have not weathered the storms of life - the grinding by real life problems and issues.
The wealth of know-how through past experiences of the old cannot be learnt from books. The young may have academic knowledge (paper knowledge) but they lack know-how. They lack the solid experiences of the old. They have not weathered the storms of life - the grinding by real life problems and issues.
But certainly, they are good critics and can easily bring down what has been workable and wholesome. The old are seasoned by life and are more pragmatic but what they do and suggest may not stand up to academic or intellectual scrutiny.
Being not as educated and relevant, the old are poor proponents. The young can easily out-talk the old. The old can execute and produce results. They can better walk the talk. They talk less but walk more. They are however not as knowledgeable.
The young can talk well but how effective are they? Can they walk the talk as good as the old. In fact they talk more than they walk. They are impressive on paper but may be flawed in delivery.
So we need guidance of the old and the brains and academic wealth of the young. Many a democratic systems are derailed by the lack of balance. This is common sense and this is logic - Tao 道. When there is Tao 道, there is balance and peace. This applies to all life - religious or otherwise.
We need the oldies to counterbalance the young. We need the young to inject life and vibrancy to an organisation. This is just plain common sense - Tao 道. Where this is lacking, problems will arise. There will be storms and no calm seas.
The Tao 道 in life requires the old to guide the young even if the young know better. The better educated young need to tap on the know-how of the old who are not as educated. The young should not teach the grandfathers how to be men. To put it bluntly and squarely, they should not teach grandmothers to suck eggs.
Perhaps the young should be patient and when they are more matured and not so young, they can take the lead. When they surge forward too early and when thrusted at too young an age to leadership, they can prove to be more liabilities rather than assets? They see not the pitfalls of the policies they want to push out.
Those capable young in leadership positions are often the ones who put elders above them. The elders are either sitting atop them or at least in their advisory boards but with veto powers of sorts.
From WIKIPEDIA. Teaching grandmother to suck eggs is an English language saying meaning that a person is giving advice to someone else about a subject of which they are already familiar (and probably more so than the first person). "Egg sucking" removed the egg contents while preserving the shell intact. A small hole was made in each end of the egg, and the contents sucked out. The shell could then be painted or otherwise used for decorative purposes without it becoming rotten and smelling bad.
Perhaps the young should be patient and when they are more matured and not so young, they can take the lead. When they surge forward too early and when thrusted at too young an age to leadership, they can prove to be more liabilities rather than assets? They see not the pitfalls of the policies they want to push out.
Those capable young in leadership positions are often the ones who put elders above them. The elders are either sitting atop them or at least in their advisory boards but with veto powers of sorts.
From WIKIPEDIA. Teaching grandmother to suck eggs is an English language saying meaning that a person is giving advice to someone else about a subject of which they are already familiar (and probably more so than the first person). "Egg sucking" removed the egg contents while preserving the shell intact. A small hole was made in each end of the egg, and the contents sucked out. The shell could then be painted or otherwise used for decorative purposes without it becoming rotten and smelling bad.
