Sounding wistful

There's a song I heard recently called Dear Younger Self.  I remember seeing a book title about a year ago with about the same title.  I guess the thought has a good sentiment.  But, it sounds to me to be a bit wistful since the impossibility of this thought cannot be overcome except in science fiction.

The song goes into how the composer should inform himself of how the world really works and of true values masked by a hurried life.  I don't know why such a person wants to settle for writing a song to a younger self when he has about 30 years left on his full life.  He might want to wait until he has gained about 20 more years of wisdom before he write that letter.

Maturity is a process.  People have tried to speed it up.  The phrase wise beyond her (his) years exists because of the rarity of seeing such a thing.  People can't really circumvent it.  Even for those wise beyond their years, the wisdom is usually not followed by matching actions.  They turn out to be people who know platitudes, but don't have the life's story to support their so-called wisdom.

You just have to wait for it.  Maturity is beautiful to see when it happens, but pushing it or imagining to see it won't allow for it to happen.  Embracing each phase in the maturation process is what everyone does naturally, so to expect otherwise is nothing but vanity, perhaps self-aggrandizement.

That makes the Beatles' song of old pretty accurate, "Speaking words of wisdom - let it be."