In between rain drops, I had an elderly client pay me a visit at the office today. He spends six months here from May through October. He is retired from a State position and spends time golfing, reading, and being with some of his elderly friends in daily social gatherings. He knows I’m busy so he doesn’t stay long but whenever he stops by, he usually has something profound to say. Today he was speaking about how one of the elderly people whom he sees from time to time at those gatherings. My client normally never has anything negative to say about anyone because he feels everyone has the right to their own opinions, but today he spoke not so fondly of one. I suppose he likely had enough of listening to the nasty things that person has to say about everyone behind their backs.
My friend also mentioned how this person will go on and on about having done nearly everything there was to do in a lifetime and more. What has been grinding on my clients nerves is that this particular person has not only done everything, but done everything better than anyone else. I interjected several of my thoughts about that type of mentality as well as telling him I’ve known this person for a very long time and what his observations have been are likely quite close to the truth. I also told him that I’m confident that person doesn’t care for me merely because I freely walk away from those types of engagements. I laughed when he said, “That’s a classic example of perfection in it’s own light.” How true it is when we find people who have this convoluted opinion of themselves to the point of being more closely 180 degrees the opposite.
I’m glad to have encounters with the elderly in our community. They are at times refreshingly guileless in their observations of the happenings in our world today. I suppose when you’ve worked all your life dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s to make a comfortable life for yourself, you’ve earned the right to speak a bit more freely.
After listening to the story from my old friend today, I’m still determined in my belief that I’d rather be considered naive than jaded. Living in the midst of the “look at me generation”, I wonder after so many have done it all, if it’s somehow possible to become un-jaded.
