Every man's dream

Every man dreams of imparting wisdom and sage advice.  He wants the listener spellbound, marveling at his keen wit and penetrating insight.  He wants him hanging on every word.  At least that’s how it is by the time a man reaches grandpa age; dreams of exotic adventures and erotic escapades have retreated backstage (in the bloom of one’s 20’s, the morning’s first thought, the day’s goal, and the night’s dream was about getting sumpin sumpin good). At age 60 we want an audience - any audience- to hush when we speak.  We want our every thought viewed with awe, as a pearl of wisdom with remarkable acumen.

Many of us old timers fulfilled one or two of those exotic and erotic flights of fantasy.  Sometimes it was almost as good as we dreamed.  But very few have anyone hushed - or even listening - to our advice. Not our friends or neighbors.  What can we possibly know that they don’t? Certainly not the wife; our wisdom?... hahaha. Our kids?  Nephews and nieces?  The youth on our block, at our church or on the bus? We can spout off about 10 seconds before their eyes glaze over and they start texting their 99 best friends.

Perhaps we should discard our fondest dream.  Would anyone remember, let alone apply, our wisdom? A dozen teenagers at a suburban mall were asked, ‘Can you tell me who King Solomon was?”  Nope, no clue.  A dozen twenty somethings, and twelve 30 somethings were asked the same question.  Only one had even the vaguest idea.  To be fair, it might have been different if 8 year olds from Sunday School were asked.  Most of them remember King Solomon as the one who threatened to cut a baby boy in two with a sword, giving half each to the two women who claimed motherhood.

To refresh your recollection, “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.  The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear he wisdom God had put in his heart.”  1Kings 10: 23 – 24.   Not only that, he was the greatest builder of his time and reigned for 40 years.  The Queen of Sheba came at the head of a great caravan to test his reputation.  She was overwhelmed with King Solomon’s achievements, intellect and wisdom as well as the splendor of his realm. She left him vast quantities of gold, spices and precious stones as a tribute to the world’s wisest man.

 
King Solomon also had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines.  (He must have got sumpin sumpin good once in a while.) To top it off he wrote a couple books you may have heard of… they’re in the Bible - Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  He lived every man’s wildest dream.

If few have heard of King Solomon, if there are those that haven’t read portions of his books… what’s grampa’s chance of fulfilling every man’s dream?  Of imparting timeless wisdom to a rapt audience?  Zero, zilch, nada some would say.  Still; once in a while someone will ask us what we think of such and such a situation.  Our hearts began to pound.  Memories from years of experience race through our minds.  We do mental calculations of all the variables, permutations and gender/generational factors.  Then we speak.  It takes about 20 seconds for us to realize the questioner was only being polite.  Darn.




PPJ©8/12/10