When I was young

Topic 1: Older people are not smarter people

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When I was young, I had a little bit different childhood than my friends. Thus, I spent the very first years of my life overseas- in Saudi Arabia specifically, because my father's work was there, so it seemed I ran out of choices about how I wanted to spend my infancy. 

However, when I had an uncompleted personality back there, it's natural that young lads before the age of 18 watch and observe each and every incident that surrounds them, and based on these observations, their whole personalities and beliefs emerge and dry. I had this strong belief that whoever is older than me even by a few seconds, has tons of experience much more than I do.

 I looked up at my father as if the walking version of God- because I was only young enough- that I have to copy and follow each and every single behavior he does because that's what the old experienced people do. I have a cousin who is also my childhood friend. When we shared our nights in the same house, we used to play card games and tell jokes. Although you could even tell that I am a few years older than him only from appearance, he aged me by an exact whole year. I still had this respect for him, I even told myself then

"The dude lived whole twelve months more than you, he must've seen a lot, got smarter and more experienced by the situations he was exposed to."

Back in primary school, it's enough to know that a friend's brother is in college to make me fear the youth. That means that this college boy is a few steps away from being deserved to be called a 'man'. The thing was a little bit weird to me thus I am the oldest sibling in my family, so I got used to that I was always the older, the more responsible, and even whom my brother's going to refer to as 'our older college boy brother' someday.

When I started scratching my real life's surface at the beginning of my twenties, things have grown much different. One's vision and the perspective from which he sees the world have utterly changed. This moment comes when you realize being on the brink of being a completely independent person that does not hide behind his parents' curtain anymore. 

You are not X's son anymore; you are a grown-up individual now whose actions aren't being referred to his father anymore. So, when you go out there and see elders already passed this stage and crossed their third or fourth decade, it is an opportunity to observe their actions and learn from them. It's a free experience though.

 So, you just walk around the streets to your school or to the club and unintentionally observe people's behaviors until they start varnishing your infant personality. Sounds good so far, sounds peaceful and smooth.

Now let us turn those optimistic tables and step into the real-life world where everything is not as bright as one may think. It has taken place more than once that I get exposed to situations in which elder people do some unordinary actions that doubt my whole childhood childish shallow portrait.

 I figured out that it is way far between how old a person is, and how smart he would be. Life experience ignorance still exists, and it doesn't matter how many years one spent as much as what he really did spending those years, what did he learn in them? Who did he meet? What mistakes did he make? And how good were his actions to prevent making the same mistakes?

That's why if I am honored by any means to be a person that shares his short life experience, I always tell people not to stop educating themselves as long as they live, so they can sharpen their mentality and make their existence count.

Read, watch, listen, and absorb each and everything you have the chance to, so you can be a person that people always remember.

When I was young, I thought the older people are, the smarter they get.