AS AN African I have been socialised to give much reverence to older people. I have often been snapped, “Hey hey hey, shut up! You don’t speak when an adult speaks?” Or very often you hear people say, “You are a small girl.” These statements are made as if being older is achievement and being younger is under-achievement. We behave as if older is wise and younger is less wise; as if older is good and younger is not that good.
What is so special about age? I see age simply as the length of time that a person has lived on earth. Age could also be seen as a stage in the lifetime of a person. Every person who is born into the world has some age. Even a day-old child has age. Animals also have age. Age is a biological fact of existence. We don’t decide how old we are. So whether you are old or young, your age is biological. You did not do anything to merit it and you can’t do anything to improve it. If all you are proud of is how long you’ve lived on earth, then you are only as good as the mighty oak tree. There is nothing special about age.
Age should not be such a big deal. I am convinced that whether you are old or young, age should not necessarily be your platform for engagement. In the Bible a young man named Elihu remarked to his friend, “I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’ It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right” (Job 32:7, 9, NIV). I fully agree with him. Wisdom has nothing to do with age. Influence is not about age. Old people do wrong and right. Young people also do wrong and right. So when we hear people speak, we should not evaluate what they say through the sieve of their age but we must consider the substance of what they say.
Don’t be too eager to accumulate age. Age does not speak. It’s often said that life begins at forty. Well, that’s very fallacious. How old was Martin Luther King when he died? Thirty-nine! So if he was waiting to grow to be forty to begin his life, then we would say that King never lived. Yet much of the revolutions that have occurred in the US civil rights movement could be attributed to him and his ‘never-begun’ life. Jesus Christ! By the time he was thirty-three, he could say “It is finished!” He was done with His mission on earth was. Just thirty-three and He stands out as the most influential person who ever lived. Born in 1818, German philosopher Karl Marx published the influential Communist Manifesto in 1848 when he was just thirty years. At that young age of thirty, Marx’s Communist Manifesto provided the blueprint that guided much of Eastern Europe, and parts South America for more than a century. Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Sony and many global brands that are redefining the way we live our lives today originated from the minds of young people.
We don’t achieve with our age. We achieve with our substance. Years do not count much. It is what we do within the years that count. In the Bible, we read of Methuselah, a man who lived for 969 years. That’s all! Nothing else is known about him. But we also know of others like Moses, who at a ripe age of 80 years led one of the greatest emancipation movements in human history. I’m sure you know of Abraham. In his 90s, he became father of the Arab race through his son Ishmael and father of the Jews through his son Isaac. At 600 years (I know that people don’t grow to be that old these days), Noah’s ark proved effective in managing a grave natural disaster. It is not their age that made a difference but their engagements.
You could be as old as Methuselah and your words, deeds, thoughts and indeed your life may not mean anything to anybody. If you are young don’t despise yourself. If you are old, don’t feel too important. Age is a matter of course.
When you speak, it is not your age we must hear. Your wisdom and deeds must project to those listening. You must value yourself not just in terms of how old you are but how much you are.
© Terry Mante
Accra, Ghana
