April 08, 2008
Longevity
If we think about that every morning we wake up in our beds, we are actually survivors of yesterday, so the longer we live, more we prove our competence to survive.
If so, then a proof that you are doing well and surviving, despite the problems, is your age.
How much you are old, more competence you have.
Of course, competence is not cumulative. It mean, a person does not accumulate skills to survive, because the chances of problems are so great that there is no experience in the world can protect someone from everything.
If so, then a proof that you are doing well and surviving, despite the problems, is your age.
How much you are old, more competence you have.
Of course, competence is not cumulative. It mean, a person does not accumulate skills to survive, because the chances of problems are so great that there is no experience in the world can protect someone from everything.
When we are young we do not know a lot of things that can help protect us. So we're most vulnerable.
Insofar as we gain experience of life, we learn to avoid problems and increase our chances of life.
But this increase of chances has a limit.
We must remember that some risks are constant and independent of our experience. For example, everyone should look at both sides of the street before crossing it. This is basic and we all learn it since we were small children. But experience teaches that even in one-way street should look at both sides and not just to one side, because there's always the risk of something coming in the opposite direction.
Insofar as we gain experience of life, we learn to avoid problems and increase our chances of life.
But this increase of chances has a limit.
We must remember that some risks are constant and independent of our experience. For example, everyone should look at both sides of the street before crossing it. This is basic and we all learn it since we were small children. But experience teaches that even in one-way street should look at both sides and not just to one side, because there's always the risk of something coming in the opposite direction.
Very well. Although an adult can learn this more sophisticated rule, he must look at both sides anyway. Knowledge must be followed by action. He can not be neglected just because he knows more than someone younger than him. His experience does not immunize him against things crossing in the wrong way.
This leads to an accumulation of rules so that helps explain why older people are so conservative, fearful and wary. Over time, they accumulate so many rules of safety and survival that simply overwhelm their actions and plans. Simply not worth the risk for them to do things that most younger people do.
Another consideration to make is that the risks are always dynamic. The threats of yesterday can be known and avoided, but the present always provides us new problems. Thus, it is not enough to assimilate the lessons of the past. You need to accumulate knowledge about current risks. You must know what is happening today. The threats are not necessarily cumulative, but tend to increase. Something that was a risk to our grandparents may not be a risk for us today, but probably still is, perhaps on a smaller scale.
This leads to an accumulation of rules so that helps explain why older people are so conservative, fearful and wary. Over time, they accumulate so many rules of safety and survival that simply overwhelm their actions and plans. Simply not worth the risk for them to do things that most younger people do.
Another consideration to make is that the risks are always dynamic. The threats of yesterday can be known and avoided, but the present always provides us new problems. Thus, it is not enough to assimilate the lessons of the past. You need to accumulate knowledge about current risks. You must know what is happening today. The threats are not necessarily cumulative, but tend to increase. Something that was a risk to our grandparents may not be a risk for us today, but probably still is, perhaps on a smaller scale.
We will see later as time passes, the world population growth, degradation of social values and development of technology has created a better world in certain aspects, but also generated threats that our grandparents are unable to assimilate.
The lesson to be learned is that the world of yesterday may have been simpler and easier to live, but we can not belittle the achievements of a person who has lived for decades in a safe and quiet way.
It is true that there are factors such as gender, income, inheritance, education and location, among others, which affect the chances of a person survive, but certainly an elderly of today should be seen as a survivor.
The lesson to be learned is that the world of yesterday may have been simpler and easier to live, but we can not belittle the achievements of a person who has lived for decades in a safe and quiet way.
It is true that there are factors such as gender, income, inheritance, education and location, among others, which affect the chances of a person survive, but certainly an elderly of today should be seen as a survivor.
The next time you have the opportunity to talk with any of them, ask about how the security was fifty years ago. Probably you will hear that life was easier, but probably also hear stories of heroism, bravery, courage, suffering, pain, perseverance and luck that will leave you amazed.
Longevity can really even be a matter of luck, but it certainly is first of all a question of love for life.
Written by Rosenvaldo Simoes de Souza at 12h08
Longevity can really even be a matter of luck, but it certainly is first of all a question of love for life.
Written by Rosenvaldo Simoes de Souza at 12h08
No comments:
Post a Comment