This is the last post in the Benjamin Franklin series. I’m pleased with it and thanks for reading it. It provided a good basis for 14 posts. Next Friday I’ll start something new.
Wise Up – “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” – Benjamin Franklin
Might I add that we don’t know when our life ends either? Talk about a triple whammy! This final quote in the series is self-explanatory and rings true. We might think we know it all when we’re young, but then we get older and realize we didn’t. It’s a rare person that knows what he or she doesn’t know. It’s even rarer to find a truly wise young person.
As I get older, I figure things out sometimes. As I become a parent, I’m sure that I’m about to find out a ton of topics that I’m horribly uneducated and unwise about. Thankfully, I’ve gained the wisdom to hang back from being arrogant about it and let my ears work about 10 times as much as my mouth. Hopefully, I’ll learn a lot before I get too old to appreciate it.
More importantly, I hope I can instill some of Benjamin Franklin’s point into my son as he grows up. I hope that he’ll have the ability to make wise choices and be open to multiple points of view. I hope that he’s tolerant and caring early on and that he keeps that with him as he grows up. Will it happen? I guess I’ll know in about 20 years, when I’m definitely even older and hopefully a lot wiser.