Many of my mates are older than me — it’s probably a remnant of not having a particularly strong male role model in my life during my youth. A combination of searching for a supportive male and avoiding/trying to please people around me has given me a rather beneficial approach to life in having older friends (at 45 I realise this sounds pathetic!)
A bond through common interests is always a great way to meet new people and I am so fortunate that my ongoing love affair with my football team has provided me with genuine, kind, grumpy, funny and wise friends….friends that have been there, done that — lived a life way before my own and have learnt lessons along the way, what’s important and what’s not — and also how to poke fun at others and yourself without it feeling like you are worthless.
Learning life lessons from these friends has never felt like a chore — we are all slightly frazzled and dog-eared through life and always end up being there when needed.
One non-football friend in particular is older and he means the world to me — through his own life experiences and perspective on life means he has wisdom well beyond his years, generation or the human race. His continued thirst for knowledge makes me a better person; someone who gives me the desire to never stop learning, listening and connecting…it’s how we thrive as humans when we learn to wear our vulnerabilities, learn from those who have lived life, overcome adversity and treads lightly through life’s slings and arrows.
W.B. Yeats — the irish poetic genius (borrowing himself from someone before him, the ancient greek philosopher Plutarch) noted this about education, but substitute “education” for “learning” or “friendship”;
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”
Find people that light your fire and yours is the earth (my son!)
