“The Ancient.”

H,

When he was being wise, which was often, we called him ancient. These were strained times, and everyone was shouting without listening and being right without love. We had that odd texture of being in our early thirties and thinking we were knew all the pitfalls. We were as stupid as ever, just older.

It is scary to think how little we learn from actual experience. It is not a good teacher, just a good story. Or a bad one. Wisdom speaks through all the ages. It tells us the real source of things and the actual destination of everything. It is never about the speaker, except that one time in history, but about what is being said. Some of the folk who struggle and suffer the most give the best advice. Not all from experience. They just navigate from distance better.

And wasn’t this our ancient? He saw things from a distance much better than most people. When we listened, it worked. We had opinions of who we should be and how we should act, he had the reality of what we actually did. He saw us. We only saw our intentions.

I say none of this with useless regret. My point, and the thing I am always learning, is we cannot be the reference point for our actions. We can only speak for our intentions. The people affected by our actions can speak to the rest.