Hey, Hoss...

[Adios]

Damn. Its a school night. Should really get to bed. Thanks for the conversation guys. Really enjoyed it.
Hope to continue it tomorrow, in whatever form it takes.

I'm out as well. Night.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It can only come with pain, bruises and blood.

Fair enough. Personally think that a person can be wise without going through some tough shit (thought that will do it), but I also realize that this is an subject where my youth counts against me. Namely, while I have an opinion, I realize that I probably don't know shit.

I think it's a neverending process regardless of your experiences.

Co
This I can wholeheartedly agree with, taking into account what I said above.

You can't write a country song without pain, blood and bruises. You can't live without them either.

When I was in high school starting to get together my first band, we wanted to write some songs about war. I mean, fuck, war is standard fare for a metal band. Problem was we were trying to recreate Metallica's "One." And one day we just realized it was silly. We didn't know shit about war. We were like, 16, 17, and Clinton was President. As far as we knew, America wasn't going to go to war anytime that we would be old enough to be soldiers. We decided not to write war songs. I had just turned 20 and my other guitarist was 19 when 9/11 happened. When the shock subsided, and neither of us volunteered to join up and kill the Islamic menace, we negated our old rule and started writing war songs. Not from a soldier's perspective, but from an angry, rational civilian's perspective. One was like, here's what happens to soldiers. The others were like, here's what opportunistic daddy issues presidents do to soldiers for stupid misguided reasons. Brendan wrote an excellent song after we invaded Iraq, called Red, White and Blue. When he and I split musically he wrote another great one called My Country Right or Wrong.

Those songs were wise songs, as opposed to the naive relative peace time drivel we were coming up with safely having a priveleged education at the Boston Public School system's second best.

Closer, you have to wallow in the shit to get wise.

True. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say they were wiser songs, but not wise songs.

We are both older than you, at different intervals.
Neither I or Charley can accurately pass on our wisdom. It's his wisdom and mine. We can toss it out there as our two cents, but ultimately, you have to find your own wisdom.

Did I get that right?

Sounds about right. My wisdom will shape itself from whatever my experiences are. Still, much can be learned from listening to people toss out their two cents.

No doubt. There's a reason why when my grandfather speaks, I listen. For all of my Irish bravado, he refers to me as an American, especially when he is voicing disapproval. Sure if I took some speech therapy I could probably pass as a born in Ireland Irishman about my age with a strangely stronger grasp on American history, but when he speaks about something, even if it is out of date, I want to hear it. I don't want to hear what my cousins who are somewhat Americanized have to say. This is a man who saw Ireland at its worst in recent history. My grandmother's sister, born in the same town as my grandparents was born into the British Empire during WWI. She is older than the Republic. That's who I want to hear from. They have stories. They have something interesting and useful to tell me.

[Adios]

It can only come with pain, bruises and blood.

Fair enough. Personally think that a person can be wise without going through some tough shit (thought that will do it), but I also realize that this is an subject where my youth counts against me. Namely, while I have an opinion, I realize that I probably don't know shit.

I think it's a neverending process regardless of your experiences.

Co
This I can wholeheartedly agree with, taking into account what I said above.

You can't write a country song without pain, blood and bruises. You can't live without them either.

When I was in high school starting to get together my first band, we wanted to write some songs about war. I mean, fuck, war is standard fare for a metal band. Problem was we were trying to recreate Metallica's "One." And one day we just realized it was silly. We didn't know shit about war. We were like, 16, 17, and Clinton was President. As far as we knew, America wasn't going to go to war anytime that we would be old enough to be soldiers. We decided not to write war songs. I had just turned 20 and my other guitarist was 19 when 9/11 happened. When the shock subsided, and neither of us volunteered to join up and kill the Islamic menace, we negated our old rule and started writing war songs. Not from a soldier's perspective, but from an angry, rational civilian's perspective. One was like, here's what happens to soldiers. The others were like, here's what opportunistic daddy issues presidents do to soldiers for stupid misguided reasons. Brendan wrote an excellent song after we invaded Iraq, called Red, White and Blue. When he and I split musically he wrote another great one called My Country Right or Wrong.

Those songs were wise songs, as opposed to the naive relative peace time drivel we were coming up with safely having a priveleged education at the Boston Public School system's second best.

Closer, you have to wallow in the shit to get wise.

True. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say they were wiser songs, but not wise songs.

We are both older than you, at different intervals.
Neither I or Charley can accurately pass on our wisdom. It's his wisdom and mine. We can toss it out there as our two cents, but ultimately, you have to find your own wisdom.

Did I get that right?

Sounds about right. My wisdom will shape itself from whatever my experiences are. Still, much can be learned from listening to people toss out their two cents.

No doubt. There's a reason why when my grandfather speaks, I listen. For all of my Irish bravado, he refers to me as an American, especially when he is voicing disapproval. Sure if I took some speech therapy I could probably pass as a born in Ireland Irishman about my age with a strangely stronger grasp on American history, but when he speaks about something, even if it is out of date, I want to hear it. I don't want to hear what my cousins who are somewhat Americanized have to say. This is a man who saw Ireland at its worst in recent history. My grandmother's sister, born in the same town as my grandparents was born into the British Empire during WWI. She is older than the Republic. That's who I want to hear from. They have stories. They have something interesting and useful to tell me.

Young people can have wise moments.

[Jasper]

I go about life with the absolute conviction that I am probably half as wise as I think I am, when I think I'm half as wise as I need to be.  And correct accordingly.  It involves a lot of asking questions or shutting up.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It can only come with pain, bruises and blood.

Fair enough. Personally think that a person can be wise without going through some tough shit (thought that will do it), but I also realize that this is an subject where my youth counts against me. Namely, while I have an opinion, I realize that I probably don't know shit.

I think it's a neverending process regardless of your experiences.

Co
This I can wholeheartedly agree with, taking into account what I said above.

You can't write a country song without pain, blood and bruises. You can't live without them either.

When I was in high school starting to get together my first band, we wanted to write some songs about war. I mean, fuck, war is standard fare for a metal band. Problem was we were trying to recreate Metallica's "One." And one day we just realized it was silly. We didn't know shit about war. We were like, 16, 17, and Clinton was President. As far as we knew, America wasn't going to go to war anytime that we would be old enough to be soldiers. We decided not to write war songs. I had just turned 20 and my other guitarist was 19 when 9/11 happened. When the shock subsided, and neither of us volunteered to join up and kill the Islamic menace, we negated our old rule and started writing war songs. Not from a soldier's perspective, but from an angry, rational civilian's perspective. One was like, here's what happens to soldiers. The others were like, here's what opportunistic daddy issues presidents do to soldiers for stupid misguided reasons. Brendan wrote an excellent song after we invaded Iraq, called Red, White and Blue. When he and I split musically he wrote another great one called My Country Right or Wrong.

Those songs were wise songs, as opposed to the naive relative peace time drivel we were coming up with safely having a priveleged education at the Boston Public School system's second best.

Closer, you have to wallow in the shit to get wise.

True. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say they were wiser songs, but not wise songs.

We are both older than you, at different intervals.
Neither I or Charley can accurately pass on our wisdom. It's his wisdom and mine. We can toss it out there as our two cents, but ultimately, you have to find your own wisdom.

Did I get that right?

Sounds about right. My wisdom will shape itself from whatever my experiences are. Still, much can be learned from listening to people toss out their two cents.

No doubt. There's a reason why when my grandfather speaks, I listen. For all of my Irish bravado, he refers to me as an American, especially when he is voicing disapproval. Sure if I took some speech therapy I could probably pass as a born in Ireland Irishman about my age with a strangely stronger grasp on American history, but when he speaks about something, even if it is out of date, I want to hear it. I don't want to hear what my cousins who are somewhat Americanized have to say. This is a man who saw Ireland at its worst in recent history. My grandmother's sister, born in the same town as my grandparents was born into the British Empire during WWI. She is older than the Republic. That's who I want to hear from. They have stories. They have something interesting and useful to tell me.

Young people can have wise moments.

I don't doubt it, but people my age are generally more caught up in the routine than reflecting on stuff. At least in my experience. It's easy to get caught up into it, especially when it is fairly new to your life experience.

[Jasper]

I'm pretty convinced reflection is rare in any age group or culture, unless a culture has specific tendencies toward it.

Thinking isn't a super power, it's a habit.