Thought #11 — is your professor in cryogenics
When growing up, our perception of older people gets frozen in time, especially those that had important roles in our life. Take teachers for example.
Our perception of teachers are based on our childhood experiences with them. For me, they were older, they were wiser, they had experience, they were knowledgeable, they demanded respect, they were strict, and their threats were real. And when I think of school today, many years after leaving, I still have this same image of teachers, today.
But this is not the reality.
The reality is that right now, teachers may be younger, and in some cases much younger than me…and you.
Now obviously this view will depend on your age. If you are of the age where this makes sense, cool. If you are not of the age where this makes sense, don’t worry, it will….eventually.
Do Millennials and Gen Z make you fear for the future of humanity?
Well, guess who is in the classroom teaching your children. Guess who is performing that spinal adjustment on your mother. Guess who is arresting drunk drivers. Guess who is in Syria fighting for your freedom….Yep, “kids”.
As we get older, those that we entrust our children and our lives with, are getting younger.
Now, I am not saying to not trust these young people, of course not, this ‘changing of the guard’ is just the normal & natural evolution of life. Do not fight it.
What I am saying, is that you should be aware of this flipping of roles, so that you can flip your perceptions to match the reality. At some point in your life, your teachers should become memories, and you should become the teacher.
As qualified as those “students” are, they still have a lot to learn, and you have a lot to teach.
