2401 Failings

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I make to-do lists. There's often one consisting of small things for the day, and one of bigger projects that need doing sometime soon. I usually get through the small stuff in reasonable time, but I have a big problem with the big stuff.

I prioritize the major projects, and then do them in order. Or that's the intent, anyway.

The problem is that some of those projects are physically or mentally onerous, and I just plain don't want to do them. When I hit one of those on the list, it stops. I know I have to do that item, and I feel guilty about procrastinating, and I know it's more important than the next thing on the list, so I don't do anything else on the list because I know I really have to do this item first ... and the end result is that nothing gets done at all, often for months and months.

I hate when I do that.

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When my mother was a few years younger than I am now, I sent Daughter to Florida for a few weeks to get to know her grandmother and cousins.

When she came home, she said she got tired of her grandmother really quickly. Why? Because she complained constantly, about everything. If they went for a walk, she complained about the neighbors' lawns, or their dogs, or the weather. In restaurants she complained about the service, or the food. In the mall she complained about shoddy products, or prices, or the way teens were dressed. On and on. She didn't seem to appreciate or like or enjoy anything.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm turning into my mother. If this journal lately is any indication, I am.

That's a frequent complaint about older people - that they complain all the time.

I don't know why others complain, but I know why I do. After 60 plus years of living, you've seen a lot. You pretty much know what works and what doesn't, what is worthy and what's not. You see things and relationships more clearly. Somehow, you expected things, society, to get better. You expected positive evolution. Instead, it looks like everything is going to Hell in a handbasket. You lose patience with obvious stupidity.

Like, doesn't it bother anybody else that kids today (there's a senior term for you) seem to read nothing except what each other writes - badly?

Does the phrase "my fiance and our three kids" infuriate you?

How did "right" and "entitlement" get so confused?

We feminists didn't fight for equality so that girls could send sexual messages that undermine respect. Look at how men dress for the office, and then look at how magazines, television, and movies depict women's office attire, and then all the young women who seem to think that's the expected way to dress - too tight, too low, too short. I want to slap them.

And so on, and on, and on.

Y'all should be grateful that seniors just complain. Deep down, they'd like to slap some sense into just about everybody.
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