We all know we live in a time of progress, but consider the kind of progress that surrounds us. It is all scientific, technological progress. There has been philosophical progress on arcane issues of knowledge and whatnot, and social science has regular paradigm shifts. We are learning more and more about the physical universe we live in and advertisers are finding better ways to get us to buy their stuff. But what kind of social progress have we made? What about learning from the experiences of others? I think a convincing argument could be made that society has devolved in as many respects as it has advanced.

It seems to me that so much of what we know in life comes from two places: school and self-experience. Of course we learn things from family and friends, but if you look at the way that smaller societies integrate the incoming and outgoing generations, I can’t help but think that we are missing something. There is no need for us to re-invent the wheel, but it seems that is what we must do in this day and age. Not to open the can of worms about school violence, but part of the problems stem from poor environments that kids are raised in. This isn’t a critique of parents so much as an observation that the cycle of birth through growth and learning to aged wisdom and teaching no longer functions as it did.

Think about how much wiser and mature you are than you were 2, 3, 5, 10 years ago. That developmental process doesn’t really end, you know. People in their 60s are a full decade older, wiser, and experienced than those in their 50s. But it is more than just acquisition of experience and perception. They lived in an entirely different political and social climate, which gives them a unique perspective on life.

Sometimes friends sit around and ponder life without certain comforts, but many of our elders actually know what that was like. You literally can travel back in time when you talk to old people. Take my grandpa, for example. My grandpa is one of the coolest people I know. I lived with him for a summer and even when I wasn’t staying there, I always made a point to go spend an afternoon chatting with him.

He was born in 1923. I never talked to him about what he did before WWII, but I know that he fought the war for three years. We talked of his experiences sometimes, but he didn’t really like to glorify those days. He would bring it up now and again when it was relevant, but mostly we just talked about stuff. He had traveled the world in the war, but had also been all over the U.S. afterwards. He was a farmer. He moved his family of 6 to North Idaho and grew it to 14. 6 boys and 6 girls. Good Catholics.

He was the caretaker of The Old Mission State Park in Northern Idaho, home of the oldest building in the state. He was also a postman and served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines. He always had a small livestock farm and a decent garden that produced stuff for sale at the local farmer’s market. He smoked unfiltered cigarettes, usually generics that he pulled the filters off of and smoked backwards. He was a smart, funny guy who lived a good life.

I learned a lot from talking to him. Just as we are products of our generations so are our elders. The value of talking to them isn’t just "So…… what was life like before cable?" but rather just the perspective they can provide about things. Of course being old doesn’t mean you are a valuable vault of knowledge (take wonderaz, for example). But the image of old people as senile, incompetent, grouchy bastards who can’t drive (again, take wonderaz, for example) deserves to be re-evaluated.

In pre-modern society, elder's lives were learned from and used as examples of morality, integrity, and character. In modern society, we have become so enamored with our own little life-space and the value of technological progress, we have neglected to harvest the bounty of experience that resides in the older generation. There may be some who would ask what we can learn from the fuddy-duddies who lived in a world so unlike what we inhabit today. Modern society, they say, is too new, too versatile, too fast for the past to mean anything.

Of course we think of today as the fastest moments in history, and to a degree this is not inaccurate. But it is foolish to think that just because a generation didn’t go through the Internet revolution they lived a static life. My Grandpa was born in the Roaring 20’s, lived his childhood during the Depression, grew up amidst WWII and then raised a family in the ensuing decades of change from the dawn to the close of the Cold War. Don’t even try to tell me that the people that lived through all that aren’t experienced when it comes to change.

A lot of us spend time talking about this, that and the other, and I think that we could learn a lot from talking about the same stuff with old people. My grandpa was always down for talk about society and politics, international relations and human nature. He always had an anecdote or an old Irish rhyme that was entertaining and relevant. My grandpa impressed me with his knowledge and overall comfort with the world. He knew more about the way people are than many of the anthropologists and psychologists that I study with.

I think that in his day, kids and adults had better rapport than today. I think a lot of the character issues modern society struggles with are partially due to this lack of inspiration and interaction between the old-wise and the young-foolish. Not that talking to an old lady is going to make you a better person, but for me at least, talking to people who have lived a whole life while I have barely started mine is humbling, inspiring, and I respect them.

The connection that I feel to my grandfather and his generation gives me a reverence for the past. I yearn to provide the same time of link to my present (but the future’s past) when I am old. This drives me to lead a good life, a life that not only serves as an example but also helps preserve the world for the future.

What is the point of having unconnected eras? So what if we have faster travel, instantaneous communication? Society is no better off if it cannot build on, or at least continue, the traditions and knowledge of those who came before. Perhaps that is the most pressing threat to modern society?

My grandpa died last summer. He was 77 years old. I miss him, but I learned so much from him that I feel that he lives on with me and through me. My other grandpa died about 10 years ago, before I had a chance to get to know him. As I learned more about him I really miss him because I know of all the things that he could have shown me. I know that knowing my grandpa has made me a better person and honors him with a legacy. I hope that I can do the same someday, but if we don’t re-instate a tradition of knowing our elders, I suspect that opportunity will never come to pass. Society may advance on certain levels, but in other important ways, it will just spin its wheels.