by Linda Sunkle-Pierucki

Created on: November 12, 2009   Last Updated: December 02, 2009

We have all heard the term, Older and Wiser. But, have we stopped to wonder if that is always true? All of us know people who appear wise beyond their years. And, yet, most of us have encountered the proverbial old fool. Something must make these people, who have all the similarities of physical appearance and apparent brain-power, so very different. Did one have many varied experiences and thus learn how to make wiser choices? Oft times, it seems that some who have the most life experiences do the worst when it comes to learning from past mistakes. And what about entire families that seem to lack the ability to learn from experience? Where do they fit in?

One factor determining wisdom seems to be whether a person has grown up with a set of solid beliefs and principles. The child that grows up around wise individuals who take the time to teach them to observe cause and consequence will be better prepared to learn from past experiences, whether the results turned out well or badly. And certainly, we dont all have to make every mistake possible to learn from all possible mistakes. This is where the wisdom of our elders seems to come into play. But we cant look just to our immediate relatives to explain what we learn about dealing with unforeseen situations.

Linda says, "Grandma was the smartest person I knew. It wasn't til many years later that I realized Grandma had only an eighth grade education. Having been born at the turn of the century, she had taken on the care of younger siblings at an early age. A sister born with a disability needed much surgery at great distance from their northern Michigan farm. She, as the oldest girl at age ten, would be left in charge of the farm and three younger siblings for weeks at a time. Obviously, she couldn't have had all of the personal experience necessary to take on such a heavy role. But her parents had taught her at a young age to take on responsibility under their guidance and with it, solid decision-making. She had a set of rules, in the form of folk-sayings, that helped her make decisions in many areas. By relying on this folk wisdom, she survived and thrived through adversities that would have brought many of us to a screeching halt."

"The folk-wisdom Grandma learned and passed down didn't come from her parents, but through them. The wisdom traveled across the Atlantic in steerage with HER grandmother and grandfather from Germany. They, in turn, had learned these bits of folk-wisdom from their ancestors. I was

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next Page >>