An argument for youth over wisdom

Photos courtesy of flickr.com

The age-old struggle of youthful optimism and ancient wisdom is an interesting one, and it's being played out in our presidential politics, as well as in every walk of life.

Hopefully, we do gain wisdom as we age, though certainly we're not all so lucky. And there are plenty of kids who seem wise beyond their years from day one. Cecilia was one of those children. I remember getting the odd feeling that she was "in charge" when she was still crawling. She always seemed calmly responsible, and she got the joke, long before she could speak.

Am I really wiser than I once was -- or is it an illusion? It's certain that I'm more cynical, but that's not a good thing. Is it possible to grow in wisdom and not need to be right? Isn't a big part of wisdom knowing when to be still, when to listen and wait?

When I hear the voices of my children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, it occurs to me that it's time to applaud the younger generation, to realize that they have more of a grip on what's going on than I do and to trust them to use their expensive educations and connected knowledge to lead us out of the no-man's land we've left for them. Maybe it's time to retreat to the sidelines and cheer them on, just like we did when they were kids playing weekly soccer games. What the heck did I know about soccer? They are our greatest natural resource, so they should have at it. I can't do cartwheels any longer, and I don't know many people who can.

It also feels like the time to hand over the nation's top leadership to someone who is not a baby boomer -- and who is neither a Bush nor a Clinton. We had our chance and failed to get it right.

That's a big part of the appeal of Barack Obama, for me and for a lot of his supporters. I don't dislike John McCain, but he is too well-seasoned for the job, too resistant to change, too likely to do the same-old-same-old. (And he is entirely too much at-home with war.)

I still want to sit on the sidelines and add my two cents' worth, but it's time to scoot off stage and bring on a whole new cast of characters. Same is true for Ajax Rock, by the way. We need new energy, new ideas, new perspectives, new voices.


Maybe the most important question of the day really is, "Got hope?"