Image (c) Sue Gearing
In the arrogance of my youth I saw many situations where the younger man felt that he knew it all, that included me as well! Not only did we ‘know it all’ we were also empowered with super strength. Quite often I would wade into a job with a dismissive,” Get out of the way you silly old fool! I’ll do that for you”. Well now I am the “Silly old fool” and able to view such situations from a different arrogance of my youth I saw many situations where the younger man felt that he knew it all, that included me as well! Not only did we ‘know it all’ we were also empowered with super strength. Quite often I would wade into a job with a dismissive,” Get out of the way you silly old fool! I’ll do that for you”. Well now I am the “Silly old fool” and able to view such situations from a different perspective.
Age brings experience, it also brings knowledge on a wider spectrum. Knowledge can be given, but experience has to be gained. I know from my studies as a student that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable; experience however has shown me it is not a good idea to put it into a fruit salad and pour cream over it.
Trees are one of those few life forms that can outlive us humans. When I stand to look at a 1700 year old Yew such as still stands in the church yard of Compton Dundon, a village near me, I wonder at the changes it has witnessed. The Yew would have been over 100 years old when the Roman Legions left Britain; it would have seen the struggle between Saxons and Danes in the dark ages. In short it has been around a long time … and us? Well we are a mere ‘Gnat bite’ the back of time. We think we know it all as the ‘superior’ life form, when in reality we know very little.
The ‘Honour’ of age should not be dismissed so easily, no matter what form it takes.
