“My son, confidence is good, but overconfidence is bad.”

This advice is very useful to him. Similarly, another parent, a mother, sees that her son is impatient.

He cannot wait for anything to take place in the ordinary course of events, so she gives him advice, with reference to her own experiences:

“My son, life is 1 per cent action, and 99 per cent restraint.”

This advice proves very useful to the son.

Similarly, another parent finds that his daughter does not have the quality of perseverance. She is not able to work unflaggingly with others, therefore, in the light of his experiences he advises his daughter:

“My child, maturity is the ability to live with things you cannot change.”

This advice of the father gives the daughter right guidance. She reviews her actions, and replans her life and then achieves great success in life.

These examples show how important the previous generation is for the new generation. The previous generation bequeaths its wisdom to the new generation. It passes on such formulae as have proved right in the light of practical experiences. In this way the older generation enables the coming generation to refrain from committing the mistakes which people made earlier that led to great losses. The truth is the previous generation is a valuable gift of nature to the present generation.

If our life is like flowing water, in which fresh water continues to be added at every moment, then it will always remain fresh and will never become stale. On the contrary, water that is confined to a closed space, stagnating in the absence of replenishment, will eventually lose its freshness. It will become stale, even harmful. The flowing river is a healthy message given by nature and the experience of many generations of people across continents and cultures would support this analogy. – The Times of India