Don’t Be Stupid, But Do Make Mistakes

For some reason, some seem to think being older automatically makes them wise… but stupidity doesn’t away that easily.

Image by Gerd Altmann

They say the main difference between temerity and caution is maturity. It is usually older folks that speak such nonsense to younger folks, as though stupidity were something that time alone could cure, as though older people were somehow immune to foolishness.

Admittedly, wisdom is related to time. It is impossible to make mistakes and learn from them unless enough time is given. However, it is very possible to make mistakes for an entire lifetime and learn nothing. We all know some individuals that respond to this pattern. Age will often make us wiser because it is rare to find those who learn fast. That said, I have met my unfair share (I do feel lucky) of exceptionally wise young people, some of them significantly younger than me, and I can tell what makes them different: they learn fast.

This is something I have always attempted to do myself: to learn fast and, whenever possible, to learn faster, faster than my previous self and faster than those around me. If wisdom is determined by time and mistakes, it is no surprise that those who learn fast become wiser before those who learn more slowly. Learning slowly, though, shouldn’t deter anybody from learning, as the alternative is to not learn at all. Granted, ignorance can be blissful, but this is a type of ignorance that we don’t get to choose, since making the choice would imply a certain level of intelligence that is incompatible with the desired stupidity.

On the other hand, an element that doesn’t receive the praise it deserves is error-making. I have written before about how helpful it is to make errors and how being wrong together can lead to progress — and, indeed, wisdom. Now imagine the power of combining both a proclivity to daring to make mistakes with the innate ability to learn from them quickly: that is certainly the perfect marriage, the confirmation that we are before a special being.

Many will scold youngsters for making mistakes; not enough will scold them for being stupid. All too often, these are confused by adults who didn’t learn much from the mistakes they made. However obvious a mistake…