I once wondered about why older people turned inside themselves and dwelt for long periods on the past. They would sit and reminisce about memories that originated decades before, sometimes while staring out a window, other times amongst their peers.  Now that I have reached what many think as being older I believe I am gaining a glimpse as to why elders think so.

A person gains their personality, their bearings in life, fairly early on. You learn to cope with conditions that prevail. You acquire skills that allow you to steer your way through life. You become comfortable. An individual can continue steering this course, using the same coordinates, if you will, for a few decades. Then, unnoticeably at first, what can be called the ‘terrain’ of life slowly alters. Skills that served well become less able to cope with the prevailing terrain. Not only that, but the young begin to compete with your perceptions of what should be, bringing ideas of their own. They reject you, resent your presence, try to push you out of the way.

Thankfully there is a way to proceed, though you must also step out of the way, and that is to realize that the only permanent thing in this life is change. Keeping abreast with changes may help you understand what is transpiring. Accepting those changes is irrelevant as regardless of your understanding you will be discarded. All the young see you as now is the old codger sitting, looking out the window.

The older generation, comfortable with what they have found works, shakes their collective heads at the young. The younger generation thinks they know it all. Only time will tell whether the young are headed for a crash. At this point all grandpa and grandma can see is a disaster brewing. When the foundation upon which society has been built and maintained is frowned upon by the young how can the senior see anything but calamity approaching?

The family has sustained our nation. Now this family is under constant attack. The government with their many handouts has made it easy for a woman to dispose of her partner, her husband, and mother alone. Now from an early age a female is taught that she must empower herself, become strong, totally independent. What need does she have for a man? He becomes a luxury. If she wants him he can stay, at least a little while. When ‘want’, a transient quantity, begins to flag, out he goes with the next trash pickup.

With a society that denigrates masculinity, insults males from boyhood on, men no longer aspire to be great. Women, upon reaching mid-life, wail sadly, wondering where have all the good men gone… not realizing they themselves are responsible for the destruction about which they moan.

The wall of the cliff rises ahead. The rails run directly there. The speed of the train seems unstoppable. The brakes will melt anyway. A catastrophe is nigh.