Sophia

Sophia the Greek goddess of wisdom came to mind as I read a piece in the NY Times (Older Really Can Mean Wiser by Benedict Carey, March 16, 2015) concerning a recent series of studies conducted by Harvard and M.I.T. post doctoral fellows about the benefits associated with the middle aged mind.

It is refreshing to read an article about anything age related that comes down on the side of the "aged."  Those in their twenties and thirties have an advantage when it comes to memory retention and speed when recalling information but what they possess in ease of rapid recall doesn't make them wise.

Wisdom is the domain of those in middle age.  We fifty somethings have a vast amount of knowledge, and a greater ability to read facial expressions than our younger counterparts, which enables us to be...wise.  We understand a situation better than Millennials and Gen-Xers  due to these characteristics.

A study from Germany suggests that the reason we are slower to recall facts than the whipper snappers is that we have far more information to sort through before we can generate a response to a stimulus.  Another factor in the speed of response may be slower firing neurons, but researchers are not certain about this.

People in their thirties are facile with numbers and those in their twenties are quickest on the draw with facial recognition but if you want to identify the crux of a complex issue, especially one that involves peoples' personalities,  leave it to my g..g..generation: we are the wise ones.  Because of the number of experiences we have accumulated, the volume of facts and our emotional intelligence we are best suited to see the truth (loaded, I know) and assess the emotional tenor of the people in a given situation to find the optimal outcome.  What we are talking about here is judgement.

I would like to believe that I have refined my sense of judgement over the years and although I do not believe in God I do think it is a miracle that I am still alive. I should have become a statistic in the Death by Misadventure column of the actuarial tables sometime between my eleventh and thirty fifth years.  As a late teen there were a few occasions when I had no recollection of driving home from a party - sad but true and unfortunately not unique.  What sends a chill down my spine is the harm I could have caused others.  This demonstrates the need for wiser minds and cooler heads in social situations, which unfortunately are in short supply when (especially in teenagers due to the incomplete development of their pre-frontal cortices) group-think takes over.  In many situations, however, two minds in various stages of development are better than one.

Perhaps this is not the time to espouse my belief that no one under twenty one should be allowed to drive an automobile but since I am of a certain age I will demonstrate my better judgement and keep this opinion to myself.   

One of the benefits of having a partner while rock climbing is a doubling of brain power.  When I was learning to climb I often paired with people in their forties and fifties because they had great advice about what not to do.  And my primary concern when climbing continues to be my partner's ability to make wise choices.  I credit my tragedy free climbing career to the company I keep (knock on wood).  But, as mentioned above horrors occur when climbers ignore signs of imminent disaster.  It is usually a string of mistakes that leads to an accident - it is rarely one bad decision.  It is contingent upon partners to question every action, both theirs and their buddy's, to prevent the cycle of errors from moving forward.  Part of this issue is social.  People don't like to confront each other and when you talk to climbers after an accident what they often relate is "such and such was wrong and I should have said something, but..."

I speak from personal experience when I say that one of the greatest parts about getting older is that I feel more comfortable speaking my mind.  This doesn't mean I am more vocal about everything (and more of a pain in the ass) but if something is wrong wisdom makes it easier for me to recognize it as such and to address it than when I was younger.   I am more careful about how I present the information because you can be correct in your determination but if you are indelicate in your presentation people will not listen to you or they will do the opposite of what you suggest because they don't like you.

I call attention to this positive aspect of aging because I have been discouraged by the speed with which I recall facts and when I was attending school recently I was frustrated by how difficult I found Chemistry and math to be.  It is good to know that I am not entering the early stages of dementia (yet).  As I see it my brain has aged like a fine wine that is not as bright and zesty as it once was but has become a complex and creamy garnet intoxicant with a buttery and accessible finish.  But alas - all good things must come to an end.

Unfortunately as we age (seventies and eighties) we lose this edge because for whatever reason we become less able to read people and our memory decreases.  Hopefully, a healthy lifestyle will mitigate this change, either that, or big pharma will design a pill for it in the next twenty years.