Our Elsewhere

"The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom."
-H. L. Mencken

It's true, I often wonder why others refuse to grow old. Few refuse, forever any ways, to grow older, but most refuse to grow old. Why? Why would you fear growing old? If not in a literal sense, in a metaphorical sense. I guess that people are afraid of the physical implication far too much to grow up, but I believe that more so, they are afraid of the mental implications. Part of growing up is thinking instead of feeling.

You can see it in many teenagers. They haven't grown old yet, for they neither look it nor act it. They constantly refuse to think before doing something, and thus, face sometimes dire, yet often universal problems and situations. But do they refuse to think truly? Given the choice, would they? maybe, maybe not, but the whole point is they refuse themselves the choice.

A person who refuses themselves the choice to be grown and mature is considered naive, however a person who accepts the choice and chooses to no think, they are idiots. This is my definition of idiot, so if you ever hear me use it again, remember exactly what I mean.

Living a certain way, thinking a certain way, or abstaining from thinking at all, whether by habit or by circumstance, is what separates the teenager from the adult... most of the time. Many people would be quick to point out that many adults also do not think, whether by habit or circumstance, and would call them naive as well. This is simply not so, as these people have actively made a choice to do so, and are thus, true idiots.

Allow me to break it down. When you are part of the control system that school is, you have lived your entire life with the luxury of not being required to think for yourself. You simply sit down and learn, mostly, pass your classes, mostly, and fit the mold. However, once you have exited the control system that society has built for us, you no longer have these options. No longer is someone thinking for you... hopefully. You are, supposedly, making your own decisions at this point. You are required to think. At this point, you can actually make decisions, and that is that. Some of these decisions are unavoidable, no matter how much you cower from responsibility.

So at the moment you leave school, you have become either a thinker or an idiot. You are in one group or the other.

So what does this have to do with growing old? That's simple really. Growing old is mostly a mind set. It has that little bit about your body changing and stuff, but mostly, it's about yourself. Who you are, and most importantly, who you want to be.

At this, it is clear that seldom do people grow old enough to keep up with their bodies. Mostly, they throw a metaphorical temper tantrum, and as any PC gamer would say, lag. Not just themselves, but everyone around them.

Age is, to a point, almost entirely independent of this process. For some people, it takes months, for some, it takes years, for some, it never happens, and for some, it has already passed. They have already been slotted a thinker or an idiot.

Who are these people? The naive people have refused themselves a question... a choice. People such as Patricia Ireland, who refuses herself a choice to think often, not only before speaking, but before making decisions. Rush Limbaugh does it, not letting himself see what he says before he says them, and conveying a message that is perceived different than it was sent. To a certain extent, every president does it, committing the error that results in countless demogauging. Nearly every teenager, at some point fall under this umbrella term, reacting emotionally before thinking, which is the definition of immaturity.

However, the idiots are the real dangers to this world. They are the people who have given themselves a choice to think or to opine; to think or to act; to think or do... and chosen the latter. They are the people who have refused to listen to facts, not because they find them faulty, but because they disagree. A fact is a fact. In fact, let me give you one fact that everyone can take home with them:

fact
n.

Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.

1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed


2. A real occurrence; an event

Those who refuse themselves facts, refuse themselves reality, in a sad, callow sort of way. Who are these people? These are people such as politicians, mostly. Many scientists, sadly, fall under this group as well, refusing to accept results outside of their theories. Sometimes parents fall under this group, attempting to reinforce their authority over reinforcing the truth. But mostly, the general public, that's you, fall under this group. Just think, (I know, this is the entire point of my rant), for a moment: do you let someone else think for you? Do you take someone else's word as fact, without reason, or rather, because they agree with you? Do you form an opinion before you learn about something, and retain that opinion afterwards regardless? If so, you are one of the afflicted millions.

I fall under this category every so often as well. Everyone does. When I don't turn in my work, (which is far too frequently), I fall under this category. When I cheat or use an unanticipated advantage to escape the wrath of a particular assignment, I fall under this category. When I start attacking a person instead of an idea, I fall under this category. But if there is one thing this point illustrates, it's that our position in these groups, thinkers, idiots, and those who are naive, is not static. We can escape into the thinkers group, or fall into the idiots group fairly easily.

This would beg the question: Are any of us grown? As the title of this rant implies, not really. We have our moments, but the people who are the geniuses in life, are those who learn to coordinate their thinking moments to a time when they are most useful, and their idiot moments to a time of least detriment.

So what is the best advice, what is the way to do this? As Abigail Van Buren said, "Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place." To be a truly amazing person, you have to strive to be amazing. You can't halfway it through anything. As she so articulately put it, you have to be "good in the first place".

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