Passing the Torch
I have often said that our young
people know much more than we do, but they don’t have as much wisdom. The gap
between knowledge and wisdom is your ability to teach what you know to someone
else.
Yesterday, I
had the opportunity to fill the gap. My daughter decided that she was going to
prepare the entire Thanksgiving dinner. At first, I was elated; the thought of
doing nothing gave me too much joy. But then I noticed something important about
myself; as we got closer and closer to the day of cooking, I was having a
difficult time of letting go of the reins.
“I got this
mom,” she kept telling me. “I know,” I said, “I just want to make sure that you
are okay.”
I had to
search myself and find my truth. I discovered that I was having a hard time
letting go. Call it a need to control, a failure to allow my kid to grow up or
just a fear of the house burning down; the why did not matter it was the “what,”
as in what are you doing Bertice, that puzzled me.
I offered to
be my daughter’s assistant and she was not having it. Then I said I’d wash the
dishes and she gave in a bit.
We had
started early in the morning. I woke up and didn’t smell a turkey and so I went
to her room to tell her that Berry women cook early. My daughter does not like
waking up early, but she disliked the idea of not keeping the tradition even
more, so she got up and got started.
She had read
everything she could and knew all of the technical terms necessary, but when it
came to actually pulling things out of a turkey, like gizzards and neck bones, she
wanted my help.
I assisted by
talking her through it and realized that I was beginning to let go. I washed
dishes and let her do her thing and then I shared the magic, “If you take all that you know and combine
it with all of the tricks and tips that have been passed on to me, you will be
an amazing chef. In fact, you will go beyond everyone who has gone before you.”
For a
moment, she said nothing, and then she stopped saying, “I know” every two
minutes and began to ask questions.
Her change came
about when I let go of the reins and allowed her to run freely. In doing so, my
family sat down to the best Thanksgiving meal we’ve ever had.
What are you holding on to, but need
to release?
Are you trying to help, or
control?
What can you let go of today?
Who can you share your wisdom with?
Who can you learn from?
Be you, be well, be
wisdom
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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