Topic: The Goodbye/Vacation Thread

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@CactusMan mayonnaise frog what now? That doesn't sound very tasty at all, to be honest. And I'm a food lover, or as they're officially known: a Burgundian...

@k8sMum Yeah... there'll always be the people living in their bubbles. Michael Jackson definitely wasn't the first one, and he won't be the last either.

@Purgatorium I suppose that "overestimating of wisdom" comment was meant for me? Well, rest assured, I'm not overestimating anything: I factually do score well over "above average" on the IQ scale, and thanks to how my life has gone, I also possess a healthy dose of street smarts...

Either way, my comment was obviously only meant as semi-serious. Someone my age would get that instantly, which is another difference between the various age groups: we're all operating on different, often incompatible wavelengths. That makes it hard to communicate sometimes, even if we do essentially mean to say the same thing.

So, what happens is that we largely get along, and we can to some extent meet in the middle and understand each other, but in all fairness (and I'm only looking at the truly educated and/or street smart ones) and in general (important label to keep in mind, to prevent people being offended/insulted), there is simply no way in hell that a younger person could think or operate on that level. And that has nothing to do with arrogance, it's about life experience and being calmer when you're older, so just to be on the safe side and to be very clear: that's NOT meant as an underhanded slight or insult to younger people.

The fact of the matter is that there is simply no education in the world that teaches you that. The only thing that does teach you those things, is life, and as such, an older smart person always has a BIG advantage over a younger smart person. Now, that does NOT exclude the older person being able to learn things from the younger one, seeing as techniques and education methods evolve, and new ones emerge all the time, but experience and a broader oversight of things (the base of being able to remain calmer), will ONLY come with the amount of time spend on this Earth.

And there's plenty of these moments to come, for younger people. Perhaps you've sometimes heard someone say things to you like "you'll never understand, until you have kids of your own" or "when I was your age". That last one is a bit of a tired trope, admittedly, but there's a kernel of truth in it, in that respect that when old people were young, times were different, and as such rules and perspectives of people were different.

Understanding/acknowledging that instead of waving that away or ridiculing it, would go a LONG way towards improving relations and communications between the old and the young. I myself am still very young at heart, or rather: in my head, and that is also largely thanks to my work. I lead a sales team in telecom and IT, and I am the oldest by far, but working with these young people every day keeps me up to date, sharp, and in return, they can benefit from all my experience, and that works like a charm. They all like and respect me, and that feeling is completely mutual.

On a side note: the first one about never understanding until you have kids of your own is something that's COMPLETELY true, as @k8sMum will be able to firmly acknowledge...

Anyways, as I already mentioned, that specific initial comment was only semi-serious, and it was directed at a fellow demi-centurian, because I knew he would get it. It was nothing personal, and should also not be taken as such or as a reason to fly off the handle thinking you need to somehow defend all people your age...

@PoliticallyIncorrect Well, we old and wise people will probably still be sitting in our rocking chairs on our porches to watch the cataclysm happening...

As for the whole war experience thing: another thing we share, kind of. I was born in the US, but my grandparents were immigrants. My grandpa was taken prisoner by the Germans, and had to work in a bicycle factory. He did survive, though. Man, the stories my grandparents had. And now we see people bemoaning "the loss of their freedom" due to COVID regulations. These people are completely clueless and have no idea whatsoever what true loss of freedom even looks like. If I had the power, I'd instantly transport all of them to 1940's Europe for a couple of days. Perhaps they'd FINALLY gain some perspective...