This is one of those days when I have little I want to share. I do tell my little stories on occasion but stories are running short. As anyone that even reads these blogs occasionally could testify I'm usually just talking to myself. I just share whatever thoughts and observations come to mind. I take my inspiration from the news, social media or just people watching. Lately however I have been taking a different view of things. It isn't anything new, I've always known that others don't always " see " the same thing as I do. The time and place of our youth play the biggest role in that. That's my thinking anyway. Or to be more accurate, I should say, how closely one clings to that base. Others will try to persuade you from that to align more closely with their own. That is human nature. I experienced a small example of that yesterday when talking with my grandson. There was an older gentleman on the television and he described a young man as a black boy. My grandson was immediately upset by that saying that man must be racist. I disagreed, explaining to him to a man of that age it may be no more than a descriptor. Not a politically correct one, but a simple description. My grandson felt that man should be more aware of todays' sensibilities. The young insisting the old conform to their standard. And I thought, perhaps that is a bit of the problem today, a reduced tolerance by the younger folk to the older folk. What I was taught as, respecting your elders.
I mention that little discussion only to demonstrate human nature. I'm not certain nature is the correct word choice but I'll go with right now. What I'm trying to talk about are the mannerism, thoughts, and knowledge we accumulate over time. There are some things that will stick with us. Slang or whatever you want to call it is a prime example of that. The young folks pick up on that quickly as they are constantly adopting and discarding such terms. The older we get the less we tend to adopt the current lingo. I've reached the age where there are things the kids say that I have no idea about! It's because I quit paying attention to that. Besides that it usually comes off as pathetic if you are in your mid sixties and try to talk like you're 16. It's even worse if you try to dress that way. LOL In the case of that older gentleman on television I believe that he genuinely didn't think of his descriptor as a racist statement. I remember when African- Americans insisted on being called Black, and when a boy was just a young man. Now I'm aware that isn't the case today and so no longer use those terms. Still, I didn't feel that as instantly offensive nor assume it was a racist remark. That was simply because of the age of the speaker. I believe that man was most likely near eighty years old. Had he been younger than myself my thoughts may have been different. Human nature? Like I said not really the right choice of wording as it is more of a learned behavior. Truly we are a product of the times. Problem sometimes being, we are in different times.
So I guess what I'm talking about is resistance to change. How willing are you to change your core behaviors or beliefs. That depends upon how important those things are to you. I think we all choose certain aspects that we will never change. Other behaviors, thoughts and mannerism are subject to change. We do have to adapt and conform as society evolves. Evolution is the development of something from a simple to a more complex structure, often thought of as better, but that isn't necessarily so. It is a matter of principle and popularity. How readily are you willing to sacrifice a principle for popularity? The real issue is in defining your principles. Not every thing you believe is a principle, some are baggage. Discovering the difference is the journey.
Well for not having much to say I've certainly said something. I'll leave it to you, the reader, to figure it all out. I don't think of myself as having all the answers. I just have my own opinions and convictions. I also feel if you are not willing to defend those convictions, they are probably not worth having in the first place. Opinions however may vary, they are transient things. I have been asked, what's the difference? That's the difference.
I mention that little discussion only to demonstrate human nature. I'm not certain nature is the correct word choice but I'll go with right now. What I'm trying to talk about are the mannerism, thoughts, and knowledge we accumulate over time. There are some things that will stick with us. Slang or whatever you want to call it is a prime example of that. The young folks pick up on that quickly as they are constantly adopting and discarding such terms. The older we get the less we tend to adopt the current lingo. I've reached the age where there are things the kids say that I have no idea about! It's because I quit paying attention to that. Besides that it usually comes off as pathetic if you are in your mid sixties and try to talk like you're 16. It's even worse if you try to dress that way. LOL In the case of that older gentleman on television I believe that he genuinely didn't think of his descriptor as a racist statement. I remember when African- Americans insisted on being called Black, and when a boy was just a young man. Now I'm aware that isn't the case today and so no longer use those terms. Still, I didn't feel that as instantly offensive nor assume it was a racist remark. That was simply because of the age of the speaker. I believe that man was most likely near eighty years old. Had he been younger than myself my thoughts may have been different. Human nature? Like I said not really the right choice of wording as it is more of a learned behavior. Truly we are a product of the times. Problem sometimes being, we are in different times.
So I guess what I'm talking about is resistance to change. How willing are you to change your core behaviors or beliefs. That depends upon how important those things are to you. I think we all choose certain aspects that we will never change. Other behaviors, thoughts and mannerism are subject to change. We do have to adapt and conform as society evolves. Evolution is the development of something from a simple to a more complex structure, often thought of as better, but that isn't necessarily so. It is a matter of principle and popularity. How readily are you willing to sacrifice a principle for popularity? The real issue is in defining your principles. Not every thing you believe is a principle, some are baggage. Discovering the difference is the journey.
Well for not having much to say I've certainly said something. I'll leave it to you, the reader, to figure it all out. I don't think of myself as having all the answers. I just have my own opinions and convictions. I also feel if you are not willing to defend those convictions, they are probably not worth having in the first place. Opinions however may vary, they are transient things. I have been asked, what's the difference? That's the difference.
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