Don't Forsake Your Elders

I've been blessed to have great teachers and mentors all of my life. Starting with my mother and continuing until now, I just always seem to be around the greatest people who are willing to share their knowledge. A lot of my friends say that they haven't quite had the same experience but my mother taught me early on not to forsake my elders. Our elders have a wealth of knowledge to share with us if we are willing to listen, but in order to be taught you have to be teachable and the older we get we end up playing both teacher and student. We have to remain humble enough to do both. Let me explain . . . We often place value on people based on what they appear to have by way of money, things or perceived success but the best mentors are those people that have lived, had some success but also made mistakes and are willing to share ALL of their knowledge. It can be hard to continue to learn once you've had a level of experience yourself because you feel as if you have knowledge to share as well. The best thing to do is to always be looking to listen and learn instead of talking and trying to teach, especially when it come to our elders. You also have to be a savvy, observant learner. I've been around some guys that taught me what NOT to do even if they didn't know they were teaching me. What I mean is that I've observed talented guys with bad habits and I've seen what those habits can do to limit your quality of life and success so lesson learned. The cool thing about being a musician is that there is ALWAYS an elder willing to teach us something if we are willing to learn. Oh yeah . . . WE MUST HAVE A THICK SKIN because the older guys don't hold any punches. They give it like they got it, HARD. Most of them had to work really hard to get anywhere and they know how strong we have to be to make so they will not make life easy for us, this is what builds character. No matter where we are in our growth, we should never forsake the knowledge of our elders. We should seek and embrace it. Each one teach one and success is yours. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

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