Is idealism wasted on youth?

[Ozzie]

All of us pass through the naive stages in youth.

Is "idealism" a symptom of naivety?

All of us experience the process of having our "idealism" grounded in adult reality.

So for anyone who has been through the process, is retained idealism a victory retained throught the "grounding", or can it be more accurately categorised as an immature attachment to an adolescent naivety?

 

[Willamena]

Idealism is not limited to nor wasted on youth. "Grounding" in "reality" is not limited to adults, nor an indicator of maturity.

 

[Ozzie]

Idealism is not limited to nor wasted on youth. "Grounding" in "reality" is not limited to adults, nor an indicator of maturity.

You seem to be ignorant of "process" (or at least ignoring it in your response).

 

[Willamena]

You seem to be ignorant of "process" (or at least ignoring it in your response).

What about "process" am I ignoring?

 

[Ozzie]

What about "process" am I ignoring?

The process I am referring to is experiential. Have you ignored it?

 

[Diogenes]

Idealism beats the hell out of cynicism any day-perhaps you can add realism to that. The final chapter of Don Quioxte shows our hero on his deathbed recanting all of his adventures and telling his loyal side kick (who warned him every step of the way about his foolishness) that he was right. It is one of the saddest chapters in all of literature. Ideals are good at any age; they are never wasted on anybody.

 

[Willamena]

The process I am referring to is experiential. Have you ignored it?

If there was a "process" that I "experienced" in adulthood that "grounded" me and washed away immature "idealism," then I guess I am "ignorant" of it.

 

[Sunstone]

Is "idealism" a symptom of naivety?

Most often. Especially in people younger than 35 or so.

...is retained idealism a victory retained throught the "grounding", or can it be more accurately categorised as an immature attachment to an adolescent naivety?

Well, just take a look at the Founders of the United States. Some of them combined retained idealism with pragmatism or realism and they did quite well thereby. I certainly wouldn't call their idealism an immature attachment to an adolescent naivety.

 

[Mathematician]

I'm of the opinion we'd all be a lot better off if the young and old mutually taught the other.

 

[Sunstone]

I'm of the opinion we'd all be a lot better off if the young and old mutually taught the other.

Contrary to popular myth, there's remarkably little of anything in the way of wisdom that older people can teach younger people. That's why every new generation repeats the same mistakes as former generations. Life's like tennis, Gene, you can't learn a whole lot about it just from being told how to play it. You have to get out there and play it yourself to really learn it. Of course, some coaching may help, but it's still remarkable how little coaching matters compared to gaining experience in living.

 

[Ozzie]

Contrary to popular myth, there's remarkably little of anything in the way of wisdom that older people can teach younger people.

Your quite wrong there Sunstone. We can certainly teach them plenty of ways of making the same mistakes we did.

 

[Sunstone]

We can certainly teach them plenty of ways of making the same mistakes we did.

Not to mention how much fun that is.