lonrombough (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lonrombough) wrote,@ 2007-11-04 21:17:00 |
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"You'll Understand When You're Older"
If ever there was a phrase intended to frustrate children, that has to be one of the top ten. But even as annoying as it is at the time you first get it, I'd wager that everyone has at least one instance when they really DID have a sudden flash of understanding years later. Right in the middle of a conversation or activity you've witnessed from adults years earlier, it hits you - "THAT'S what they meant."
What interests me is that the older I get, the more often I get revelations of that type, in a slightly different sort of way.
When I was home on vacation from college I sometimes went around pruning grapes for home growers. Pruning is one of those activities that seems to scare people when it comes to grapes, so I'd do it for them. Usually they just showed me the vines and went away. But one time a boy about 7 or 8 came out and not only stood there watching, he kept asking what I was doing. It wasn't that easy to explain that the vine had to have the extra growth removed so it would grow better, but while I'd have preferred to be doing the work alone, I had no cause to actually run the kid off. And it wouldn't have gone over that well with the people, anyway.
After I was done, I was more or less asking myself "what was THAT all about?" An hour or so spent pruning vines with a somewhat annoying kid around. Not really expecting an answer. Yet, very recently, in preparing a presentation, I realized that kid was the first time I'd put my pruning knowledge, such as it was at the time, before an audience. THAT was the point of it. It was my baptism in instructing someone how to prune grapes. I seriously doubt the kid went out and started to grow grapes later on, but the experience was meant as an icebreaker for me.
And after I realized THAT, I began to see other experiences that pointed me along the way to that first "presentation."
"You'll understand when you're older" seems to be very good advice for people of all ages. Be patient and eventually those odd, puzzling, or unpleasant moments become understandable when you get a chance to put all the pieces of the picture together. Maybe it was a small lesson in patience, maybe it was a nudge along a new path. File your experiences and "wait 'til you're older" and you might discover something outstanding unfolding from them.
If ever there was a phrase intended to frustrate children, that has to be one of the top ten. But even as annoying as it is at the time you first get it, I'd wager that everyone has at least one instance when they really DID have a sudden flash of understanding years later. Right in the middle of a conversation or activity you've witnessed from adults years earlier, it hits you - "THAT'S what they meant."
What interests me is that the older I get, the more often I get revelations of that type, in a slightly different sort of way.
When I was home on vacation from college I sometimes went around pruning grapes for home growers. Pruning is one of those activities that seems to scare people when it comes to grapes, so I'd do it for them. Usually they just showed me the vines and went away. But one time a boy about 7 or 8 came out and not only stood there watching, he kept asking what I was doing. It wasn't that easy to explain that the vine had to have the extra growth removed so it would grow better, but while I'd have preferred to be doing the work alone, I had no cause to actually run the kid off. And it wouldn't have gone over that well with the people, anyway.
After I was done, I was more or less asking myself "what was THAT all about?" An hour or so spent pruning vines with a somewhat annoying kid around. Not really expecting an answer. Yet, very recently, in preparing a presentation, I realized that kid was the first time I'd put my pruning knowledge, such as it was at the time, before an audience. THAT was the point of it. It was my baptism in instructing someone how to prune grapes. I seriously doubt the kid went out and started to grow grapes later on, but the experience was meant as an icebreaker for me.
And after I realized THAT, I began to see other experiences that pointed me along the way to that first "presentation."
"You'll understand when you're older" seems to be very good advice for people of all ages. Be patient and eventually those odd, puzzling, or unpleasant moments become understandable when you get a chance to put all the pieces of the picture together. Maybe it was a small lesson in patience, maybe it was a nudge along a new path. File your experiences and "wait 'til you're older" and you might discover something outstanding unfolding from them.
