Very well stated, Dhuff.
Ken, you remind me of my father, also named Ken … he’s 85 and tries his best in the confusion of today. I’m sure he comes off as a curmudgeon at times, or of rigid thinking, but most of his life was in a very different era than now. Things are kind of all over, even my kids who are in college sometimes are confused about all of it.
People today often talk about acceptance and seeing it from their perspective, being open minded and accepting… but we often fail to provide the same respect back to our elders… those who were raised in a different time. My parents listened to the Shadow on the radio on Sunday evenings, and the papers were of figures and bland information, not the opinionated, polarized and solicitousness of todays endless media.
I applaud you Ken for stepping out into todays world and trying to connect using these new methods of forums and such. You are how you are and I do think while we’ve gained more openness and possibilities today, we lost a bit of the clarity the “old fashioned” brand of thinking brought.
We all want to be respected for who we are and how we are, I can tell you have a good heart and well intended, I can see where you are coming from, and how your life and upbringing and experiences have shaped your thinking. I accept and respect that, not that you need it from me, no one needs to answer to anyone else. We can’t force someone to be something else just because we don’t agree with them or it doesn’t fit into our own belief on how people and society should be, nor should we begrudge or belittle them. That applies to you as well, you are who you are, how you are and believe in what you find is true and makes sense for you.
I hope when I am your age (which isn’t too far off) I have the nerve and zeal for life to continue trying to connect to others through unknown means of communication, into waters that I dont understand and my judge me and my ways as barbaric or stilted. I hope I still have the curiosity and gumption to try and learn more, even if it doesn’t make sense to me. I value your views and opinion and understand that they were formed from a very different time as now, they are valid. I’m not going to try and force you to be molded into the form of what is today’s “right”… just like I wouldn’t force someone to remain in their birth gender.