It’s that time of year again. The weather is hot. School is out. And the young and stupid are aimlessly roaming our streets.

I am more than a little concerned (if not fully horrified) that I have increasingly heard words generally associated with grumpy old farts coming from my own mouth (and even from my wife).

“Pull up yer pants! No one wants to see yer drawers!”
“When are ya gonna get a haircut, ya hippie?!”
“What’s with all that metal hanging off yer face? Did you crash into a fence?!”
“Stay off my lawn!!”

Ok, I’ve never actually said that last one. But still…

I’ve worked with the youth in our church for eight years now.  (Holy cow! Eight years?!) We loved and guided dozens and dozens of kids through the trials of youth. We call them our “chi’ren” (a bit of a nod to Shirley Q Liquor and her 19 chi’ren). A few of our chi’ren are now married with kids, thus we even have grand chi’ren! So I feel that I am well qualified to talk about this segment of our population: The Young and Stupid.

I read a quote once:

“To be old and wise, you must first have been young and stupid.”

It might be a stretch for me to presume that I have achieved “old and wise”, but let there be no doubt, I did get here via the long and painful road of “young and stupid.” Still, I don’t think this statement is universally true. Here are a couple more quotes that I feel are good rebuttals to the above:

“A wise man learns from him mistakes. A wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.”
“I don’t have to get hit by a truck to know it hurts.”

And thus, there is always hope for the young. There are ample opportunities for them to gain wisdom without experience, to be both young and wise. In fact, a couple of my chi’ren are shining examples of this. However, they are in the minority.

So, if you are old and wise, be patient. When you hear the music thumping from a car behind you. When you see clothes that used to be reserved for strippers and prostitutes now worn openly at the mall. When you are confronted with the Young and Stupid, remember! You were once young and stupid too.

Oh, and if you are young and stupid: Pull up yer dern pants and stop poking holes in yer face! You’ll thank me when your old.