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 I have been accused of repeating myself. All I can say about that is, guilty as charged. I do repeat myself. I think we all do if what we are saying is what we believe. If it isn't what you believe than it makes sense that you would always be saying something different. Seems logical enough to me. I'm aware that today we are supposed to be changing our minds, changing our opinions, and changing our beliefs to become more inclusive. The more we do that the more enlightened we become. That's what I'm hearing anyway. And I'm hearing that from the ones that want to change my mind, change my opinion, and change my beliefs. It isn't so much that they want me to be included as they want me to include them. I shouldn't judge them. The problem with judgement is the verdict, not the actual act of judging. The fear is the verdict may not go your way. That's why I need to change your mind, your opinion and your belief. That's how that works. 

 Mark Twain expressed it best when he said." if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." That's the simple truth. As a result, I will repeat what I have said before. Sometimes I try saying it in a different way, using a different analogy or anecdote, but the message is the same. Well, that's when there is a message. There are times when there isn't any message at all. I'm just talking. I have had some very interesting conversations with myself. Sometimes I even change my mind, my opinion and my belief. When it happens, I write it down. Strange how that isn't remembered by others though, only when I repeat myself. Imagine that. But it you want someone to remember something, repeat it often, they'll remember. It has been said if you want to remember something, write it down. That works really well on a personal level. But most people won't read the same thing over and over. Today it seems people don't read anything if it is over a few lines. And when speaking many times acronyms are used in place of saying the actual name. There are so many acronyms these days it is like a different language. You really have to be aware of the context to avoid confusion. Is it a disease or a snide remark on social media. Do you know all of these? BRB, DIY, LOL, FYI, FOMO, GIF, JPEG, YOLO, and BAE. That's just a few. A google search for a list of medical acronyms yields forty-eight columns! Trying to remember the acronyms is more of a challenge to me than learning a new language. ROFL

 Yes, I do repeat myself. All old people repeat themselves. The reason is easy enough to understand. We are old enough to have made up our mind. We are also old enough to not really care if others like it or not. Gone are the days of trying to be "cool." We have adopted our fashion sense, I'm almost seventy and still wearing jeans and sneakers. I'm not wearing shoes without socks, even loafers. I'm not wearing cargo shorts in the winter, or summer for that matter. I have my musical likes and think the new music stinks! So yes, I do repeat myself. I'll keep on repeating myself. My hope is one day when things are going bad, when someone is disappointed or just plain frustrated, they will say, Ben said that would happen. I should have listened to him. God knows he said it often enough. Heck, he even wrote it down. Repeating yourself is like writing without the w, you learn by rote.  

 Another thing that old people have learned is, you are not the judge of me. As a result, I am not worried about your verdict. You do not hold that power over me. You can only have that power when I allow it. Often, we call that power, respect. When I accept your opinion, your judgement, that is because I respect you. I may or may not accept the verdict. That doesn't change my level of respect for you though. That's what getting old should do for you, allow you to understand that and accept that. You have made up your mind and that's a good thing. I respect people of conviction, even when they think I should be the convict.