Wise Words - An Explanation 

Over the 1.5 million years of human existence, it is only for about the past 200 years that most people have gone to anyone other than local elders for solutions to life’s problems. Anthropologists tell us that in prehistoric times, the accumulated wisdom of older people was a key to human survival. Not only did the old (and especially grandmothers) improve the survival chances of their grandchildren by caring for them and finding them food; they also were the source of tried and tested experience, the true “elders” to whom group members would go in time of crisis.
Karl A Pillemer, Ph.D.
 
This statement stuck with me as I began research for this project. Elders in our community are easily forgotten. I saw this with my own grandmother in the last years of her life. Seniors come from a different time and speed which can be exhausting but what you can gain is a vast knowledge of history and family history.

To expand more on the reason for Wise Words, I began this project a few years ago when I was meeting with my own Oma every week for an hour or two and tried to get as much history from her as I could.
I learned life stories that most had never heard, her experience in living through WWII, the advanced medical system in Holland due to my Oma being born blind but through surgery was able to see in her 9th year.  Through her life story I learned valuable lessons from her and even asked her for advice in my life. She was very opinionated about a man that I had mentioned to her and I still to this day will smile and realize her wisdom.
The purpose of this project is to share my creative talents and journalist interest in producing something we can all connect with. I feel privileged to record a persons life history, wisdom, advice and how they could impact the years to come for you from their wisdom in their lives lived.