Sunday, August 30, 2009

Crotchety


One of the traits of getting older my least favorite is potentially becoming or being accused of becoming crotchety. Years ago I imagined what to look forward to in terms of growing older and jokingly telling friends, "The ability to sit in a rocking chair on a large porch, drink beer with my hound dog at my side, slingshot on hand targeting the little punks in the neighborhood." This partially was my true aspiration for retirement life... until recently.

While talking on phone with a friend I witnessed children climbing a fence in order to pick fruit from my neighbor's tree. I yelled at them for trespassing. My friend over-heard me yelling and accused me of being crotchety. Never hearing the word before, I knew immediately it was not a compliment and was quite miffed over him using such a word to describe me. I told him to eat shit. After finding word in the dictionary, by definition I was being crotchety to the children as well as with my response to my friend.

It's important for me to take steps to avoid exposing this trait in the future. It's my belief by not recognizing such traits now, I become oblivious to them in the future and will appear to be a mean old man. My goal is to blend with society for as long as possible.

My suggestion to avoid falling into the category of crotchety is to always keep an open mind. These children were from less fortunate upbringings and I should have assisted them in the event they might hurt themselves since it was easier for me to pick the fruit off the neighbors tree. My frame of mind then did not allow me to think these children might be hungry. Sadly my original actions may be embedded into these children's minds forever. They might even use the same tactic later in life because I taught them how.

1 comment:

  1. I think that's the right attitude. We are so caught up with the negative in this world that we forget we don't need to be part of it and that kindness should always come first no matter what's happening around us. We will all continue to grow old and for some of us unfortunately will feel the effects of that. But if our mind/attitude can rise above the "crotchities" we will get a greater satisfaction out of our lives...

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