# 4 of 7 B&W Photo

For those who have just dropped in, I am doing the (self) modified version of the 7 day 7 B&W photo challenge. Today I have chosen to present the photo of an old building zoomed through the trees from the sixth floor. It reminded me of an aging desolate and lonely character and somehow prescient of many a future.

As we age, aching and hurting from our myriad life experiences and fading memories of the idealism, passion and enthusiasm of those days, we take it upon ourselves to advise and guide youngsters.  Often we are the ones who enchain them and weight them down and restrain them from reaching higher.

But as Charlotte Brontë,  wrote in Jane Eyre: “I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.”

How true!

Similarly I cannot help but agree with H.L. Mencken  who said: “The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

This is quite in contrast to the general prevalent notion (at least in India) that the older generation knows best and youngsters should always defer to their superior sense and sensibilities. But having crossed the hill I think I can safely say that this is definitely not true. We have also bumbled our way through (I know I have!) and often have not learned anything worthwhile on the way. And it is just by pure luck that we have reached a position where we consider ourselves worthy and deserving of the privilege of handing out notes and tips on how to live life.

Possibly with disastrous consequences.

It is my belief that have-been players, should stay in the shadows, watching, willing to offer support but only if asked for. The youth, like us, must be given the freedom and scope to make their own mistakes, chart their own paths. And perhaps most importantly stop living our lives vicariously through our children.

Does that mean it is our kismet to wait in the sidelines, waiting for someone to drop in and grant a moment of their time? On the contrary!

Now is the time to dust up those forgotten memories, brush up hidden hopes and desires and live life as we once wanted to.

“No matter how old you are now. You are never too young or too old for success or going after what you want. Here’s a short (edited) list of people who accomplished great things at different ages

1) Issac Newton wrote Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica at age 24

2) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity

3) J.K. Rowling was 30 years old when she finished the first manuscript of Harry Potter

4) Martin Luther King Jr. was 34 when he wrote the speech “I Have a Dream.”

5) Mark Twain was 40 when he wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, and 49 years old when he wrote “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

6) Suzanne Collins was 46 when she wrote “The Hunger Games”

7) Charles Darwin was 50 years old when his book On the Origin of Species came out.

8) Dr. Seuss was 54 when he wrote “The Cat in the Hat”.

9) J.R.R Tolkien was 62 when the Lord of the Ring books came out.

― Pablo

I plan to be the 10th on the list 😉 Or will you beat me to it? 😀

On your marks

Get set

Go!

I am not challenging anyone but do feel free to join in if you so wish 🙂

Just in case you wish to visit the earlier posts on this challenge, here are the links:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Thanks for visiting and your lovely little note 😀