We’ve all been hearing them, right from childhood. We are told to believe in them, that their words are sacrosanct. We spout them when we have to make a speech, either in public or in private.
Dear reader, I’m not referring to some politicians. I’m talking about proverbs and sayings.
I am now of a certain age where I can quite firmly state that many of these proverbs and sayings we were raised on as being the incontrovertible truth are nothing but — to put it politely — baloney. They float around like airy nothings, and people never pause to question their veracity.
Except for today’s Generation Z, who pooh-pooh many of the isms their parents thrust on them, giving incredibly sound reasons about why these are false. But the rest of us accept these as gospel truth, when, to put it simply, nothing could be further from the truth. Let me make myself clearer with some examples.
The first one I lock horns with is the common phrase, ‘Age is just a number’, or, worse still, ‘You are as old as you feel.’ Let me tell you, I sometimes do want to feel like a teenager or a young thing of twenty-one, but my creaking joints remind me of my real age very quickly. Ever gone clothes-shopping with your teenage daughter? You’ll soon be reminded of your age, as this shopping spree is sometimes more tiring than running a marathon.
This applies to mental activities too, like that moment where you can’t put a name to a familiar face. Or the name of something very common or popular escapes you. These are euphemistically called ‘senior moments’ but don’t fool yourself. Dear reader, this is a sign of the slowing down or the depleting of grey cells.
Early to bed early to rise....
Then there’s that famous proverb from none other than the eminent Benjamin Franklin: ‘Early to bed early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.’ Who am I to disagree or pick holes in such a famous person’s utterance?
But there is growing scientific evidence that our body clocks are tuned differently. There are those of us referred to as night owls who function better after sundown, and need a longer lie-in in the mornings. So before you blame the late risers, remember our circadian rhythms are wired differently.
Take another phrase: Money never buys happiness. Who says? I think this is the most pessimistic of statements, written probably by a sadist who liked to see people suffer. The rich can be unhappy as can the poor. But, as someone wisely said, it’s much easier crying inside a Mercedes Benz than a tin shack with a leaky roof.
Apart from that, money does buy you many happy moments — that look of joy when you buy a child that expensive toy they’ve seen in a friend’s house; for adults, the new car, or the diamond ring brings many ‘sparks of joy’ (to misquote Marie Kondo). We’re not all saints to only hanker after the spiritual!
Yet another saying with which I strongly disagree is, ‘Good things come to those who wait.’ Ha! You’ll be waiting all your life if you just expect a good thing to happen. Patience is a virtue to some degree, but (imho), it’s better to do something to get what you want, rather than waiting indefinitely for it to happen.
Finally, there’s that proverb that every creative will disagree with: ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ Sometimes doing nothing and just drifting is when creative juices flow, or brilliant ideas strike. Some psychologists feel we can’t always be running after or doing something; that would produce more stress. Letting your mind idle is the answer.
These proverbs we learn are at least a century old. As I write, I am sure more proverbs and truisms are being minted, but a hundred years from now, they may not hold true for those times.
Padmini Sankar is an author and freelance writer. Twitter: @paddersatdubai
