Growing old and growing up
And there you have it: the final episode of Single/Single. What a great idea it is to fuse money- management ideas wrapped inside a TV series that offers education as well as entertainment. Single/Single depicts the lives of Millennials as they go through the daily drama (and comedy) of it.
Businessmen, educators and even parents are aware of this and at the same time are concerned that today’s young people have very short attention spans.
Watch people in lines. While waiting for their cappuccinos or lattes to be served, their eyes are fixed on their screens, either playing games or watching videos. It’s a totally different world, a world infused with information and entertainment.
And this is why Single/Single works. It offers a combination of education as well as information, better known as “edutainment.”
How times have changed. Consider this anonymous essay I got from the Net:
“In 1900, if a father put a roof over his family’s head, he was a success.
Today, it takes a roof, deck, pool, and four-car garage. And that’s just the vacation home.
In 1900, a father waited for the doctor to tell him when the baby arrived.
Today, a father must wear a smock, know how to breathe, and make sure the camera is ready. In 1900, fathers passed on clothing to their sons. Today, kids wouldn’t touch Dad’s clothes if they were sliding naked down an icicle.
In 1900, fathers could count on children to join the family business.
Today, fathers pray their kids will come home from college long enough to teach them how to work the computer and set their Internet routers.
In 1900, fathers shook their children gently and whispered, “Wake up, it’s time for school.”
Today, kids shake their fathers violently at 4 a.m., shouting, “Wake up, it’s time for soccer practice.”
In 1900, a father came home from work to find his wife and children at the supper table.
Today, a father comes home to a note: ‘Jimmy’s at baseball, Cindy’s at gymnastics, I’m at gym, pizza in fridge.’
In 1900, fathers and sons would have heartto-heart conversations while fishing in a stream.
Today, fathers pluck the headphones off their sons’ ears and shout, ‘When you have a minute…!’
In 1900, a father gave a pencil box for Christmas, and the kid was all smiles.
Today, a father spends $800 at Toys ‘R’ Us, and the kid screams: ‘I wanted PlayStation 3!’”
Kids mature, though. They shed their childishness and take up responsibilities as adults.
Unfortunately, this may be a challenge to a lot of young people these days. If their hearts and minds are fixed on their screens, preferring to view more entertainment than to be educated, then it will take a longer time for them to mature.
You and I need to be taught the value of personal growth through learning.
Not long before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s death at age 75, someone asked him how he continued to write so beautifully and remain so vigorous.
Longfellow pointed to an apple tree that was full of colorful blooms and said, “That is a very old apple tree, but the blossoms this year seem more beautiful than ever before. That old tree grows a little new wood each year. And I suppose that it is out of the new wood that these blossoms come. Like the apple tree, I try to grow a little new wood each year.”
Millennials are brilliant. I see them full of potential that remains untapped. The numerous speaking occasions Single/Single has arranged for me to bring money lessons to these brilliant young minds in the BPO industry has confirmed for me the fact that if the young would embark more on learning, managing their money and their lives, then there is no telling how much more they can do for their families as well as the country.
We all need to grow a little new wood each year.
There is a time for leisure, but there is a need for more time spent on personal growth and development. There is a time for rest but it must not take too long. There is a need for more time spent on serious work and excelling towards one’s career path and profession or entrepreneurial activities. There is a time for entertainment, but there is more time needed for educational pursuits.
The rub here is that we are only given an equal 24 hours every day and it all depends on how we use it in order to achieve maximum productivity. There is a time to be cute, but the time to mature, grow up and deal with duties and responsibilities is now.
I am excited for Single/Single Season Two where there will be new lessons to be acquired, new perspectives to be formed, and hopefully, new “wood” to be grown.
As a wise philosopher once said, “Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional.”
Hope is not a strategy. Luck is not reliable. Youth is not eternal. But maturity coursed through intentional living and learning are keys to success and winning.
Single/Single is a wealth management project of The Philippine STAR in partnership with SunLife, Metrobank, Avida, Samsung, and Ford. It airs on Cinema One every Saturday at 8 p.m., with replays on Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 10 p.m.
Stay up-to-date on Single/Single by catching the latest episode synopsis every Sunday in the Entertainment section.
‘There is a time to be cute, but the time to mature, grow up and deal with duties and responsibilities is now.