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Psychologist might remind us that oftentimes when someone annoys the heck out of us it may be because they remind us of ourselves. Don't know if it's true or not so just saying.
I have heard it is because that person who annoys us reminds us of someone in our past (or present!) that annoys us!
I have grumpy days, but I am not a permanent grump. Interestingly, the less time I spend with the media, and the more time I spend interacting with other actual people, the less inclined I am to get sidetracked into Grumpyville...
I'm making plans to be a fun elder, a pleasant, unentitled restaurant customer who tips generously and doesn't creep young women out, a non-grump who keeps trying new music. I cannot imagine wanting to live in a community of only other old people; I saw my parents-in-laws' gated community in Orlando and it was junior high school-level pettiness with real lawyers and grudges. Didn't keep them safe either. Their servants collaborated on inside jobs and they still got robbed. All that hiding in a compound, worthless. Die on your feet, don't live on your knees.
I have enough grey hair that I now and then am mentioned in the context of the senior discount. I never take it amiss. I laugh: "There shouldn't be one. In the first place, they aren't really 'senior citizens,' as if you should suck up to them as some paragons. They're fricking old people, and they should face up to that simple term and not whine and grouse and pretend that they are not old. In the second, they tend to be the biggest pains in service workers' butts, so there should actually be a senior surcharge. Prove you're under 65 or pay 10% more." The waitress usually laughs. She's dealt with customers like my mother, who seems to have this notion that the world is there to kiss her ample posterior, and greets them all with an arrogant sniff of nauseating entitlement. I see them in restaurants quite often, and I take them as a cautionary tale for what I could become without vigilance. Maybe they too planned to be bearable in elderhood.
I have set the goal, if I am spared to live so long, of being an elder that young people will enjoy and value and want around. Got to listen to them, support them and their dreams, and when they ask, help them out. The kids need us. Our old age and treachery can come up with solutions to their situations that they might never have imagined. And to the extent that they believe we have their backs, and care about them, we have influence. It falls to us to use it well and kindly.
I'm making plans to be a crazy dog lady living in a cabin or a camper in the woods... Alone with some paint and some rescue dogs and coffee. Living out my days in solitude and peace.. AHH...
I'll come to town just to ruffle feathers and remind people I'm not dead. Should be a hoot.
a good place to start would be at the ballot box, with a few changed opinions this country would not be in the horrible place it is currently in
I guess it would depend on the "opinions" that need to change. I can only assume that you mean those "opinions" that agree with yours. As another poster said, we see the world changing around us every day and that scares people. They can't stop it, they can't change it and they really wish it would remain the same as it was in 1965.
The country is going to continue to get more liberal, more socialistic in nature, whether we like it or not. The younger generations, that I talk with all the time, all say the same thing. Their view, rightly or wrongly, is that the "Boomer" generation is entirely to blame for where we are today. We are/were more interested in making money and having things than concern about our fellow man and the planet.
They ask me what happened to the hippies and counterculture mindset. I tell them reality. Their response is that they don't want to live in "our" reality and they are going to create "their" reality whether we like it or not. I had one go so far as say, "Me and a lot of my friends cannot wait until all you old people die so we can actually fix this mess." I found that profoundly sad.
I guess my point is, we are getting older, that can scare a lot of us, we don't like what we see the world and the country turning into, but feel helpless to stop it. Well, my friends, there is no stopping it. So we can either sit around and be miserable or we can chose to enjoy whatever time we have left enjoying the really good things in life.
My friend is also a gun nut. He has about 8 weapons, a concealed carry permit, and he can never find enough ammunition to buy.
In addition to pistols and rifles, my friend has now added a crossbow to his cache of weapons. He says that he has this arsenal for "protection", but because he keeps his weapons in closets and in drawers, in the event of a home invasion he would likely be dead before he got across the room.
When I pointed out to him that his weapons would only protect him if he carries at least one of them in a holster on a constant basis--with the safety turned "off"--he just gave me a blank stare.
And, these weapons certainly don't provide any protection for him outside of his apartment because he is afraid of carrying these unlicensed weapons in public.
He will eat food that is questionable, refuses to turn on lights because he doesn't want to pay more than $30-40 per month for utilities, lives in filthy conditions, and--in general--lives like an impoverished hermit, even though he has more than enough money to live in a more normal manner.
Clearly, his behaviors make very little sense, but I have essentially given-up on trying to figure out why he does what he does.
In addition to pistols and rifles, my friend has now added a crossbow to his cache of weapons. He says that he has this arsenal for "protection", but because he keeps his weapons in closets and in drawers, in the event of a home invasion he would likely be dead before he got across the room.
When I pointed out to him that his weapons would only protect him if he carries at least one of them in a holster on a constant basis--with the safety turned "off"--he just gave me a blank stare.
And, these weapons certainly don't provide any protection for him outside of his apartment because he is afraid of carrying these unlicensed weapons in public.
He will eat food that is questionable, refuses to turn on lights because he doesn't want to pay more than $30-40 per month for utilities, lives in filthy conditions, and--in general--lives like an impoverished hermit, even though he has more than enough money to live in a more normal manner.
Clearly, his behaviors make very little sense, but I have essentially given-up on trying to figure out why he does what he does.
Is he a Vietnam vet?
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