do proverbs always represent the wisdom of the ages or can they be an easy,unthinking response to real problemsM A friend of mine had the annoying habit of responding to any problem by citing a proverb.Tell him that you were trying to decide whether or not to buy some new shoes and he’d say,”A penny saves is a penny earned.”To which i’d reply, “oh, yeah, what about being ‘Penny wise and pound foolish’M The shoes are on sale today Tomorrow the pice will be higher.
The American poet Robert Frost wrote about this in his poem “Mending Wall,” which is about farmers with neighboring farms.Ever spring the men get together to repair a stone wall that runs between their two properties.They walk along the wall and replace the fallen stone, “to each the boulders that have fallen to each.”However, as one farmer points out,they have no need for the well. There are only trees in that ares, no cows or other animal to keep off the other’s land
The neighbor responds with the proverb, “Good fence make good neighbors.”
The other answers,”why do they make good neighbors?” and goes on to say
before i built a wall i’d ask to know
what i was walling in or walling out..
But the neighbor just repeats the proverb.
the first farmer says,”He will not go behind his father’s saying.”he sees his neighbor as someone “stuck” in his old ways.
A good example of a proverb that should be questioned is “Spare the rod and spoil the child” (if you don’t hit your children,they won’t be good). This proverb has caused a lot of harm to children over the years.There is now very strong and clear evidence that physical punishment makes children more aggressive in their own behavior, not less Another potentially destructive saying is “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”How many elderly people retreat behind this saying and refuse to try new things? However, again studies have shown the contrary. Although some mental abilities do decline with age, older people can and should learn new thing. The brain is like any muscle that when it is not loses its ability to function well.New tricks are exactly what the “old dogs” need to be doing to stay sharp.
so the next time you quote a proverb in answer to some problem you facing,you might want to take a minute and think about it.After all,you should always,”Look before you lear”—or should you