A THOUGHT FOR NOW - FROM WHERE I AM CONTEMPLATING.

And so it is, that, whereas a young person contemplates the centre of the world or universe and how she/he will navigate their way to it, the older person contemplates the journey he or she is now completing, as oblivion calls or beckons. 

The younger person looks towards the mountains they have to climb, while the older person looks back from the mountains they have already climbed. And so it is that the younger and the older generations have their own perspectives, born of their experiences and knowledge, and or their lack of knowledge and experience. 

It is really the case that we all navigate the journey of living, and probably share many commonalities, but the journey, for each of us, is truly unique, as we perceive and experience it, in parts at least, from our own peculiar perspective.

It is, of course, not surprising that the older generations should want to use their knowledge and experiences to prevent the younger generations from having to pay the heavy price which they, the older generations, might have paid to learn some of the painful lessons they have learnt. And yet, it seems that, like death or the attainment of oblivion, there are some things in living, which we are all fated to experience and learn, only from having travelled the path/s ourselves. 

I wonder if the fact that we can only learn these things - which are probably not all self-evident - make them more valuable than the things which we can learn from the experiences of others who have undertaken the journeys giving rise to them?  

Of course, this cannot be said of the experience of death, as it is the only experience from which we are unable to learn any lessons; or, to be more precise, any lessons which we are able to put into practice.

And so, instead of the older generations trying to prevent the younger generations having to 'learn some lessons the hard way', - except probably for wars - it might be better for the former to focus on helping the latter to better prepare for the painful journeys which they will inevitably have to make for themselves, in the expectation that they might fare better than others who had made them.

In living your life and endeavouring to bring happiness and pleasure to yourself and others, continue to offer the young advise on how they might learn from your experience and knowledge in better preparing themselves to travel the paths before them. In the end, the choice is theirs, as is the benefits and probably avoidable pain.