Old is gold
By Er Taraprasad Mishra
Jajpur, Sept 17 : Old is gold means that the old things are very important and valuable we should not think old is a waste.even though this proverb is short but it has a very valuable meaning.There is a logic behind why the Old is compared with Gold.
As we know Gold is one of the rare metal on the earth and that makes it precious and expensive too. Gold is always associated with some big event in life like wedding, birthdays, anniversaries. Gold doesn’t lose its value over time, it never gets old. On the contrary, it’s value to get appreciated. These are the reasons why Old is compared with Gold.
Old things, memories, experiences are like gold; they carry sweet memories with them. Old things might loose their materialistic value but their real worth gets appreciated with time. … When one sees those old things, memories associated with flash through the mind. Like gold one should preserve old things. This saying means old things are reliable.
They have passed the test of time. There seems to be no risk in trusting and trying them again. New friends may deceive one but old friends stand by one through thick and thin. Old friends may disagree with us, they may part from us for sometime but they do not change. They remain as trustworthy as before. New products may create health problems.
New ideas may not suit us. New fashions may not last long. New musical notes should delightful only for some time. But old ideas, old fashions and old melodies remain ever fresh. Similarly old people can’t be rejected as useless creatures.
They are wise and experienced. Their advice should he valued and accepted in life. Old provides basis for everything. Time rejects what is not worthwhile. But what is left behind is as valuable as old.
Therefore we should learn to hold old in respect. It has eternal and everlasting value. Old things, memories, experiences are like gold; they carry sweet memories with them. Old things might loose their materialistic value but their real worth gets appreciated with time. Like gold, old things are attached to some of the best memories.
When one sees those old things, memories associated with flash through the mind. Like gold one should preserve old things. Old things don’t just have a place in personal life but various fields, industries do believe in Old Is Gold strategy. For example; in today’s technology-driven world modern warfare is highly depends on the latest technology, more the advanced you are more powerful you are. But even army and defence strategist say Old is Gold.
Today also they use old warfare strategies like Guerilla Warfare. Vedas, Puranas, Sacred Texts, Yoga, Ayurveda all these things very old, ancient for that matter. But teachings from these texts are still applicable to this day. Though Yoga is thousand-year-old it’s in trend now. People who own a complete Apple family gadgets find the peace of mind through age-old yoga techniques. On the contrary, not all old is gold.
Human history saw wars, barbarism, mass deaths, famine, and social injustice. We should take the best from history and leave behind the bad things. Old and new things should go hand in hand. Adapting to new things in part of evolution, one has to do it but one should appreciate old things too. Old thing possesses excellent knowledge and experience, we the new generation should learn those good things.
“The Old is Gold” is an ancient proverb/saying and people use it off and on in day to day conversation or talk or discussion. It is cited by someone when it is felt that the thing or material has become very old but its significance or property or quality remains the same or rather enhanced with the pace of time or period. Its meaning will be clear if I tell you a very witty and interesting story.
Long, long ago there lived a very rich merchant in the city of Ujjain. The merchant was dealing in diamond only. He had spread his trade and business all over the neighbouring countries. He had three sons who were doing their own business in three cities of the country independently. All the sons were married and had their own families.
They were the owners of what they possessed but they had equal share in father’s property too. With the pace of time their father became very old and as when he fell sick. The physicians were consulted but of no avail, they said that due to overage the immunity physical power was reduced to the minimum due to which even the weaker bacteria and virus attacked him and consequently he fell sick off and on. In their opinion ageing is a great problem in old age.
It is an alarming situation and ends in death ultimately. The merchant was of 87 years old. He suffered from pneumonia and left for heavenly abode. Their sons hearing this sad news rushed to Ujjain. All the relatives and dear and near ones also arrived to take part in the last rites. But the sons were adamant to divide the father’s property equally first in presence of the dignitaries of the locality and only after that the dead body of their father would be cremated.
The total property was listed out as per the balance sheet of the sole trading concern in his father’s name and was equally distributed very soon to their entire satisfaction. Everyone was satisfied with whatever each got in share but the younger brother raised one problem. The people asked, “Now there should not be any problem to take the dead body to the river bank for cremation.
Let us stand up and take the “Arthi” on our shoulders.” The younger brother stopped them unless or until the diamond ring that his father had had in his right ring finger was equally divided, if not broken into pieces at least according to its market price, he would not allow anybody to take the dead body of his father for cremation. He asked someone to take out the “Kafan” and take out the ring from the finger.
One trustworthy person while checking the finger, did not see the diamond ring in his right ring finger. He informed to one and all who were present there. Another problem arose and everybody was looking at each other in suspicion and doubt. Who has stolen it? The eldest son queried in surprise. The middle brother announced firmly, “The dead body will remain at its place unless or until the real culprit was caught hold of or anyone who stole it knowingly or unknowingly came forward and confessed his crime.” Once again the cremation was withheld sine die.
People started to find out the solution to this problem. None had adequate knowledge or experience to solve the problem or suggest any way out. One old man was sitting in one of the corners of the hall wherein people were discussing about the solution of the problem.
Someone noticed him sitting alone keeping his head on his knees. He asked him, “Can you able to recognize the thief who had stolen the father’s diamond ring?” He replied in the negative but at the same time he asked him to search an elderly old man of about ninety years sitting under a Bunyan tree just one kilometre away from here in the right side.
Now he will be there taking rest on the chabutra. Two persons took a car and reached there. Seeing a very old person keeping his head under both knees and dosing, they stopped their car in front of the tree. They approached the old man and requested him to help them in solving a great problem they have had in their family. They would apprise him of the detailed information when they reached their house.
Yes there is proverb old is gold. We usually think that the changing world doesn’t need the old ones. The people may come across different things that the world get grossly changed from previous days to present days. You see the quality of the things is getting poor with the recent world. Best example is the older buildings are strong and stand for longer period of time compared to the newer ones.
In those days the people are healthy and lead a long life but these days are poor in both. The old people are with huge experience about the life so we should follow the words of the old people to lead a good and happy life. In all the fields old is gold always. t is true that every moment there is change. This is the process of life.
It is progressing and essential too. But what is the base for such progress? There is some fundamental theory based on which further progress is done. That base is the core factor. When a thing becomes old it is more valued. We value many things when it becomes old.
To begin with, Yes I agree with you that world is changing every moment and we are moving towards new generation and new life with more comfort and facilities. We like to use new things to make our life easy and comfortable. But we also say old is gold. I want to say that it is a proverb which is applied to some things but not to all the things.
As collecting some old books, coins and other things make them very important and there cost increases. In many things we see that earlier some things were made very strong and that same thing when made today is not that much strong.
Taking example of a ceiling fan. An old ceiling fan when seen today, it has a heavy weight and is found very big as compared to today’s ceiling fans which are small in size and less in weight. These have less life than the old ones.
In case of jewelery also old jewelery were heavy and strong but today’s is less strong and light in weight. In my opinion changing world does not decrease the importance of some old thing but it will increase its importance.
In simple, the old ornaments which is used in temples having a high price range compareing to the newly released ornaments and most of the people are buying items which look like old to decorate their house because it became a trend and they are giving more value for the old items.
The present world may change, or the world order may change but our past remains in tact and that is the testimony of itself. Our olden people and their deeds stands tall to this world and show as the margdharshak to implement such things which are useful to the mankind.
When Gandhiji said that hear good things, tell good words and never see bad things, with the help of a monkey portraying these views, how it penetrates into the minds of the people and that has thus become a golden voice or rule of this country. That is why it is said and believed that old is gold and that is never sold or bold.
Yes, the foundation for all the new things in the present world was laid in the olden days and what we are getting at present is all the updated / improvised ones of the old inventions which form the base of the new ones.
So we need to value the old things much as these are the basics of learning new things. We need to remember that one cannot directly plunge into the usage of complex sentences without learning the basics A,B,C which are very old.
If a person has to learn about the latest versions of Apple i phone (i phone 5), then the person has to have to basic knowledge about Graham Bell’s invention.
In addition, I would like to mention that old things are comparatively purer in form than the latest improvised ones. Old inventions are made for the welfare of the mankind while the new improvised ones are made for monetary benefits and thus most of these new things might have lost their pureness. So always ‘old is gold’ which is pure. It is a proverb which is valid in many occasions now also. Our culture and tradition are unique and benefiting.
One should try to preserve it. But we must also change with todays world. Old views should be abandoned . The myths have no place in today’s society. Development and technology progression should be made as we cannot stick to old ones forever.Old movies are much better than todays movies. One can learn a lot of things from them.
Old stories and sayings are still valid. Ramayan and Gita still hold a unique position.I would like to say that not every old is gold. Always we are searching for new things at every moment but we say the proverb Old is Gold. It has reason which is old stories like Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. We consider these stories are gold even it is old.
Even though world developed beyond our imagination, don’t you think we lost something, some where? Yes we do, I feel this proverb is most suitable in the case of film songs. The songs today are thrilling, but old melodious songs fill our ear and mind with romantic thoughts. If we consider this matter with an individual level, we can see that nostalgic feeling about past is general character of almost all individuals.
Childhood is the most attractive period in everybody’s life. Now we lives in midst of tension, speed and ear breaking voices. It is great relief to recollect the memories of childhood.
So, what ever developments we have made, old things have its unique greatness. It is a true proverb that old is gold. Because we can consider a worker which have experience can fail a graduate engineer in his field.when any thing old then the value of this thing become priceless.
