This piece made me grit my teeth and curl up my nose -- Boomer's insights on history and events are valuable as far as first person historical accounts go, but do we really need their 'Wisdom'? Aren't these the same people that got us into the economic and ecological mess that we're in right now? If Boomers were able to provide a solution to these problems wouldn't they have done it before now? This piece implies that somehow the Great Boomer Hope has been saving up all its oomph for retirement, cleverly holding back amazing solutions to economic crisis and ecological meltdown until the 11th hour. I for one don't believe it. In the words of my generation -- put up or shut up.

Gen X-er

Your post is interesting, and I found the one commentor even more so.

When anyone uses a word like wisdom, it implies a certain degree of superiority which appears to have irritated the commentor. It would have irritated me as well. Whenever anyone suggests my skills are dated, I have the same response. It is critical without a basis in fact.

Wisdom is not something automatically gained through having lived long. The decisions of my generation and the earlier sixties radicals, are and will plague us for many years.

The passing on of highly effective managers will have its affect on business. But if they did their jobs, they have mentored their replacements. Unfortunately, in the me, me, me world they created, mentoring is sitting on a shelf right next to succession planning, gold watches, and chivalry.

The younger generation will do just fine without us.

Take care,

Mike Anderson

Hi Nenufar – I hear you; it seems to be the fate of all generations to be blamed and reviled by those generations that come behind them. In the words of another generation – don’t trust anyone over 30… :)

Alas Mike – We all make mistakes; wisdom is often confused with self-righteousness. We’ll also be plagued for years to come by the decisions of nineties neocons made in this decade. In the words of a poet from a generation that has already come and gone -

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Best regards,
Michael

I enjoyed reading your article and loved the trip down memory lane. I think you are brilliant to suggest a networked compilation of wisdom may be what we need to avert the chaos the planet is heading towards. I also read with interest the comments of the Boomer and the Gen-Xer.

I agree with age comes wisdom, and wisdom may be little more then the ability to not repeat the same mistakes, or to use your past experience to synthesize new situations and enable you to see things from a different more enlightened perspective that you simply couldn?t have unless you have seen many sunsets. You are not born wise. Wisdom comes from getting beat up, and it comes from being built up. Certainly some obtain it sooner then others. Perhaps some never obtain it.

.The boomer is wrong! Many in our generation many have gained wisdom. I can attest to it as I interview boomers everyday. They do get it. They have learned from their experience, and are using it is a wise way. For the Boomer in your blog I say wisdom does not imply superiority in fact from wisdom you learn your frailties, how much you still have to learn. Wisdom creates humility, a humbleness that you didn?t have as a 20 year old. We Boomers are in the interesting and unique position of having been educated like our parents, introduced to the computer revolution, and then growing up with it, and re-educating like the subsequent generation. We have been wizened in the throes of an exponentially growing technical explosion and we have lived the history and are living the present. We are probably the first generation to truly embrace change, to desire change, to glorify change.

The Gen-X reader is far too sensitive. It is not impossible to have wisdom at an early age just unlikely. Boomers are not at fault for all the ills of the planet. Boomers inherited a mess and didn?t have the discipline or the motivation to clean it up. In fact to be fair it got much worse. He need not venerate those with wisdom nor should he have disdain. Rather he could consider following the Asian cultures that appreciate what can be learned from their elders and he may always discard what wisdom he disagrees with.

In short if we are accepting of it, wisdom is the payment we get from growing older. It is the yin to the yang of atrophy.

Certainly one often pays a price for wisdom. Wisdom is certainly gained from the multitudes of experience that time blesses you with. Some of the wisest people I know are not necessarily well educated but know how to take their experience filter out the good from the bad and see the situation through a much more focused lens.

My dad often states that as we get older we actually get smarter. I agree with him, particularly if we can combine our wisdom with our learning endeavors. I will not allow the younger generations to make us irrelevant. I think for the first time in history the older generation is incredibly relevant and we have a duty to mankind to pass on our wisdom! We may be the wisest of all generations only time will tell. Certainly given our numbers one would think we have a collective wisdom that surpasses past and future generations.

I encourage you to keep on writing and trying to get people engaged. Build a neural wisdom network. The internet is a gift from the great electron giving us a forum to enlighten one another and build our knowledge base which in turn will generate ideas and one good idea could help, maybe even save us all.