“May Lolo Ka Ba?”

Reblogged from juelerie chest

"May lolo ka ba?" [Do you have a grandpa?]

A friend asked me that question tonight in an attempt to descibe an employee who was hard-headed and difficult to deal with.

Maybe this is related to the idiom about teaching old dogs new tricks.  There's a muscle in the human psyche named "Teachableness", whose suppleness and strength is not necessarily related to one's age, but rather to one's humility and willingness to learn, grow, change.  And like all muscles, it must be consciously exercised to build it.  Neglect or disease can lead to atrophy. 

So, “May lolo ka ba?” can also be rephrased to, “Lolo ka na ba?” Are we grumpy old men, unable to be taught new tricks? Do we growl at new ways of doing and seeing things?

If so, then we are no better than Statler and Waldorf, heckling life from our imagined box seat.