People are a dime a dozen offering advice to graduating seniors. Some might act as if they are the keepers of some grandiose wisdom, or at least that’s how they make it sound with, “make sure you remember.” Like a recent high school graduate is going to stumble into something profound with uncle Nick’s 20 second advice lecture session. Get real. So maybe here’s a more realistic take on the idea of dispensing advice to graduating seniors.
The older we get the more susceptible we become to arrogance. It kinda seems to come with age. Seems to go hand in hand with the idea of entitlement. But as we know, just because you’re older certainly doesn’t mean you’re wiser. Sure, we can guard against arrogance and keep it at bay, but we have to be watching for it. But curiously, also the reversal is true. If I Nick, a 28 year old, studies ten hours a day, I might be as wise at 60 years old as I thought I was when I was 18 years old. Young people are also prone to arrogance.
So let’s bring this together and package it. Both young and old are prone to suffer close minded listening problem diseases. Let’s face it, no one wants to be loud obnoxious uncle Nick at the graduation party. If we don’t watch for it, we might become one of those diarrhea from the mouth people who are always trying to prove how smart they are. We want to be cautious in presumptuous thinking that we have something to teach someone else. So we step back and ask how we can both learn from each other, even when the other person is half your age.
Avoid the windbags like a plague, they’ll zap the life right out of you. Make friends with older people who are as eager to listen to you as they are in giving you advice. Yup, those kind of folks will be of great help. They’ll walk with you, and not just point out the direction. In sum, I hope you’ll find those people who are as eager to listen to you as they are to offer you advice. After all, advice is only one component of what a human wants and needs.
Great meeting you Saturday!