Today my sister in law referred to me as an "older man". I got quite a kick out of feigning offence, but she was on to me. I'm pretty predictable. This made me think about maturity -- mostly, how I lack it. I was running this same thought through my noggin earlier this week. It's funny that every generation seems to see itself as having "arrived". Along the lines of, "Can you believe they thought that way back then? Sure is a good thing our culture grew out of that!" This shows up in science, religion, medicine, social understanding, politics, etc. I wonder how advanced Civil War surgeons thought their techniques were in the late 1800's compared to the middle ages. We assume that we have most everything arranged properly, even though history proves consistent progress and growth. If we are part of that continuum (exclude the "imminent rapture" folks), then we certainly should admit that 100 years from now (or 20 ... or 10), folks will look back on our own outdated and backward way of understanding the world in 2010 and remark, "Can you believe they thought that way back then? Sure is a good thing our culture grew out of that!"
I know some will argue that the older ways of understanding the world were better. Perhaps there is some truth in this, but on the whole, I don't think that dialing the clock back significantly raises understanding. People made strong and (to them) compelling arguments that slavery in the US was justified. Folks with emotional or brain-chemical imbalance were committed to prisons. Suspected witches were burned.
This all makes me think that we should approach our current levels of knowledge and understanding with generous amounts of humility. It could all be outdated before we assume room temperature.
4 comments:
This comment may be way out in left field but it makes me think about the medical community. Sometimes the greatest doctors, the one's who are most respected in their profession are also the most humble. I once heard such a doctor comment on why the doctors who were below him seemed much more arrogant than he. His response was something to the effect that they don't know enough to realize how much they don't know. He, on the other hand, with all his extra knowledge and experience, was quite aware that there was a lot more still to be learned.
I'm reading this post and enjoying it and thinking about how I've "arrived" at laziness. I'm searching for the "Like" button so that all I have to do is casually click a button and you know I like your post. I don't have to come up with words. Facebook is basically encouraging our generation to communicate in cyber-grunts. I point my finger and make a guttural tone of approval.
Argh, me likey postie. It show circumspection
I would like to make two comments:
1.) Based on my memory of the last time i saw you coupled with this most recent picture that you have posted, I understand your sister-in-laws choice of the adjective "older".
2.) What else are we to do with witches?
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