“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9
It is both a blessing and a curse of youth in believing that all of its ideas are new. It is a blessing, because even if there is “nothing new under the sun,” old ideas that have faded from memory often need to be rediscovered. It is a curse, because youthfulness sometimes promotes an arrogance that rejects the wisdom of previous generations.
We should thank God for the audacity of the young for it keeps us honest and motivated to chart new courses and test the boundaries of an often false, rigid, and predetermined capacity. At the same time, we should also thank God for the wisdom that comes from experience for it keeps us from hopefully repeating all the mistakes of our past (though we will inevitably repeat some).
The key for organizational success, it seems, is for both … youth and experience … to respectfully listen to the other with a shared goal of achieving the the purposes of God.
If youth knew; if age could. – Sigmund Freud