Glory and Beauty

Pro 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

I have witnessed the interplay of young and old men and have some observations.

Younger men sometimes dismiss older men as being dreamers whose day has past. They think that silver-haired seniors have little to offer but outdated stories. They feel as if the older gents need to stand aside and let them take over and do it their own way.

Older gents can come across as resentful to empty-headed pipsqueaks who are clueless as to what life is all about.

Little do they realize how important it is to draw vital assets and resources from both generations. Surely, each has much to offer the other. Rather than dismiss each other, they need to embrace one another's ideas, experience, exuberance, wisdom, zeal, past, future, stories, hopes, dreams and visions.

Young men, put yourself in the shoes of the aged. Imagine how it must feel to have experienced WWII and or Korea and or Vietnam, to have fought and sacrificed to pave the way for you. Think about the vast store of knowledge, wisdom and experience housed in the people who have known deprivation that you will never have to suffer. And then to be set aside and ignored, shoved into a senior’s home like a bull out to pasture, to have your ideas quickly dismissed, because of an eccentricity. How humiliating to be denied an audience because your fashion sense is a few decades out of vogue, because you now have to dress for sensibility and utility rather than to impress the peers.

Whippersnappers, look past the delivery, the lack of vim and vigor. Cut through the mismatched clothing and inability to be compatible with simple, modern technology such as texting, tweeting and Face booking. It frustrates you that they think “My Space” is your bedroom. Look past it and learn to listen to the beauty of the gray head.

Senior, don't be a curmudgeon with the guys coming up. Remember when you were there? Remember how you thought the old man was no longer with it? How square he really seemed!

Be patient with the kids and give them the slack they need to make mistakes, learn and grow.

Thank the Lord above for the glory of their strength. They are now going to be the movers and shakers of society. Try not to let it show when you are frustrated with their foolish zealously. Avoid the temptation to use phrases like; "in my day..." because you know there is nothing that shuts off their attention like "how we used to do it." Find a way to get the much needed truth and wisdom across in a way that is palatable to their pride.

We all really need to borrow from other generations. There is nothing unmanly about getting help from someone that is happy to provide it.