Wisdom story: A wolf's life lesson about the words "Too old"

One day two good friends Joe and Adam meet while on vacation with their families. Since they hadn’t seen or heard from each other for many years they decided to meet later on in the afternoon and go out for drinks and catch up. As they finally met at the pub on the beach they immediately started to reminisce about the good old times when they were in high school. They were ecstatic and had so much fun making fun of how they were back then and what they did. And then Adam remembered that Joe was always so passionate about motorbikes so he asked Joe which motorbike he has now. Joe just chuckled, looked at Adam, and said, “I don’t have a bike. When I finished high school, I went to college, studied hard, worked a lot to pay off my student loans, and then I met my girlfriend in one of my classes which I married later. As soon as we finished college we both got jobs and focused on getting a house and starting a family. Even before we got kids the years flew by, but after we got kids, well you know how it is, the years just go by even faster. And now… well now I’m just too old for a bike. Now it’s just too late, you know. I guess we all have a regret or two once we get older.” Adam quickly ordered two more drinks and told Joe that it was never too late to make his childhood wish come true. But Joe quickly found excuses why not to, and Adam calmly listened to everything that Joe had to say, and when Joe finished Adam simply said, “Joe I understand what you are saying and going through. I was exactly where you are now once. But then I heard a story that made me change my attitude and ever since whenever I catch myself saying I’m too old to do something I just remember the story and I quickly change my mind. Want to hear the story?” Joe agreed and Adam started to tell the story.

In a valley far away there once lived an old wolf full of regrets. The valley was a beautiful vast place where the wolf pack she belonged to would leave every spring with their cubs and return during winter to have new cubs. The old wolf never left the valley, even when she was just a cub and her whole pack left she decided to stay, she was too scared to leave. But there were times in her life when her curiosity got the best of her and she finally mustered up some courage to try to leave. An example of one of those situations was when she was five years old she wanted to learn to swim. If she learned to swim she could cross the river on the northern side of the valley where no wolf has ever gone to explore before. She would be the first wolf there and finally, she would be the one sharing stories with other wolves about the places she has seen and not the other way around. While the wolf was sitting on the river bank staring at the river trying to figure out how deep it was a fish appeared. The fish asked the wolf if she could swim, if not the fish offered to teach the wolf how to swim. At that moment the wolf changed her mind and replied, “No I don’t want to. It’s no use I’m too old to learn how to swim.” The fish just smiled and went on its way, but the wolf stayed in the valley. Again five years passed and the wolf was now ten years old. Now she wished to learn how to jump really high so she could jump over the rocks that were on the southern side of the valley. The wolf searched the valley and once she found the rabbit she asked him how is he able to jump so high. The rabbit offered the wolf to train her if she wouldn’t eat him but just as they were about to start the lesson the wolf said that she was too old to actually jump so high. So she decided not to learn to jump but still let the rabbit go.

Again another five years passed and the wolf was now fifteen years old. For her fifteenth birthday, she decided to learn how to climb so she would be able to climb the mountains on the east side of the valley and see what is beyond the mountains. She started walking at the foothold of the mountains when she noticed a wild goat climbing the mountain with ease. The wild goat also noticed the wolf and went to her and asked her if she would like to learn to climb. But the wolf again went against her first wishes and answered that she was too old to learn how to climb. Now another five years have passed and as she was twenty years old she wished to learn how to row. If she had learned how to row she could take a boat and cross the river. She sat down on the pier waiting for someone to come that could teach her how to row. After a while, she said to herself “Ah, I’m too old for this anyway, this is just a waste of time.” And that was the last time the wolf was thinking of trying anything new. From then on she just walked around the valley a bit, and watched how others lived their lives and if anybody asked her if she would like to join in doing something with them she would always reply, “I’m too old to do that.” So it was until she died.

When Adam finished his story the two friends finished their drinks in silence. The first to speak was Joe who said he was nothing like the old wolf, but it was too late for him to get a bike, “I’m really too old” to learn how to ride a bike now.” Adam looked at Joe and asked him, “Are you really? Or are you like the old wolf who never even tried?” And then finally Joe understood what Adam was trying to teach him, and decided that Adam was right. From that day forward Joe decided that he was never too old to at least try what he thought he wanted to do. It didn’t matter if he ended up doing new stuff full-time, all that mattered was that he tried and saw if that new thing was something he wanted to continue doing or not.