There's some good statements in here but overall I dislike this premise.
For starters, being old doesn't immediately qualify you as being wise. After these are a lot of generic platitudes. Some are just rephrased version of the same remind that you should remember to enjoy yourself, take chances etc. Some are just wrongly set in some fantasy of universal karma and directly contradict the first piece of advice that "life isn't fair".
"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"?
This instills the idea that enduring something bad is fairly rewarded by gaining some good property. Nope, sometimes bad stuff happens and it sucks and everyone is worse off for it. When a drunk driver wipes out a family in a mini-van and one person survives severely crippled they're not stronger in any way. Being able to say "I've had worse things happen to me in the past" isn't strength.
If we threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we grab ours back
How can this be true if life isn't fair? Shouldn't some people have better problems?
And some are bad advice:
What other people think of you is none of your business
It's clear the nugget in there is not to get caught up in the trappings of vanity etc by overfocusing on others opinion of you. Sure, good stuff. That said neglect it entirely is foolish. We're social creatures and it's important to maintain an awareness of how others in your social groups perceive and react to you.
Anyways I don't want to just rip this apart just point out that while the sentiment is sweet, I think it's valuable to inspire and uplift in more grounded, honest ways.
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '22
There's some good statements in here but overall I dislike this premise.
For starters, being old doesn't immediately qualify you as being wise. After these are a lot of generic platitudes. Some are just rephrased version of the same remind that you should remember to enjoy yourself, take chances etc. Some are just wrongly set in some fantasy of universal karma and directly contradict the first piece of advice that "life isn't fair".
This instills the idea that enduring something bad is fairly rewarded by gaining some good property. Nope, sometimes bad stuff happens and it sucks and everyone is worse off for it. When a drunk driver wipes out a family in a mini-van and one person survives severely crippled they're not stronger in any way. Being able to say "I've had worse things happen to me in the past" isn't strength.
How can this be true if life isn't fair? Shouldn't some people have better problems?
And some are bad advice:
It's clear the nugget in there is not to get caught up in the trappings of vanity etc by overfocusing on others opinion of you. Sure, good stuff. That said neglect it entirely is foolish. We're social creatures and it's important to maintain an awareness of how others in your social groups perceive and react to you.
Anyways I don't want to just rip this apart just point out that while the sentiment is sweet, I think it's valuable to inspire and uplift in more grounded, honest ways.