Old Horse Knows the Way 老马识途

“Old Horse Knows the Way” is a Chinese idiom. It means that the old and experienced person can provide guidance necessary. There was a father once told his daughter about the idiom, but the daughter commented that the old horse can’t find the way because of Alzheimer’s disease. How should we perceive the idiom that emphasises the old horse knows the way?

Indeed there are times and situations that the older and experienced people can provide guidance. They should be respected and consulted as sages of our time. One of the classic example is about the recent General Election (G14) in Malaysia. The opposition under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir, at the age of 93 years old shook the whole world for the ability to gel his team to overthrow a regime, which was in power and had never been defeated previously. Following the election, Dr. Mahathir returned to be the prime minister for the second time, 15 years after his retirement. Dr. Mahathir is often referred to by the Chinese as “Lau Ma” (老马). And now he is the oldest prime minister in the world, a living testimony of “old horse knows the way” (老马识途).

Nevertheless, ageing is a reality for most people as they get older. The older people need to know that they no longer can do what they did when they were younger. Instead of trying to provide guidance, they should listen to the younger generation. They should be humble enough to accept the reality of “dependence” as a characteristic of the elderly. It means that older people have to learn to depend on others for either the aged care as provided by the government or caring arrangement from their children.

China ambassador presented a “Old Horse Knows the Way” folding fan to Prime Minister Mahathir (Internet photo from Sin Chew Jit Poh).
中国大送”老马识途”扇子给首相马哈迪 (圖片来自网络星洲日报)。

“老马识途” 是中国人的成语。这意味着老人和有经验的人可以为他人提供必要的指导。有一位父亲曾经告诉他女儿这个成语，但是女儿则评论老马会因为老人痴呆症而找不到出路。我们应该如何看待所谓的老马识途呢？

事实上，有时候在某些情况下，的确老年人或有经验的人是可以提供指导。他们也应该受到尊重和咨询，他们什至可以成为这个时代的智者。最典型的例子就是来自马来西亚最近举行的大选 (G14)，由已经93歲马哈廸医生所领导的希望联盟已经震惊全球，因为透过他而凝聚了一个团队推翻一个连续執政 61 年的政权。选举结束后，马哈迪医生在已退休15年后，第二度担任首相职位。马哈迪常被华人称为”老马”。现在他是世界上年龄最大的首相，真正印证了“老马识途” 的成语。

尽管如此，一个事实即是大多数人会随着年龄而老化。因此老年人必须知道，他们已经不能再做某些年轻时做过的事。他们应该听取年轻一代的意见，而不是试图提供指导。他们应该谦虚地接受“依赖”乃是老年人的一个特点。这意味着老年人必须懂得如何依赖他人，即接受政府所提供的老人护理，或是来自子女的照顾和安排。