Birthday

Today is my 45th. I don't think I look or act like a 45 year old. But it's weird to think that this is really what middle aged is (unless you live to 100).

I feel after 40, getting presents are weird. And celebrating birthdays aren't a bad thing, but it feels like weddings. Unless you are there to drink, your friends suffer through meeting people they will never meet again. I like meeting people. But for the most part, social media has given us a glimpse of how interaction goes forward.

I am guilty of this.

You spread an opinion online and the rest of the world debates you over it. Whether they agree or not. Usually the new engagement in life (as we use to call "interpersonal relationships") are often ignored and sometimes (rudely) interrupted so they can provide their own view.
This creates MORE people who will not and can not listen. This will be our ultimate downfall. That we use passive attempts to undermine others thoughts instead of...say...absorbing ideas. Or building on ideas.
I work with older people who don't have the capacity to do this. I tell them it is their "blindspot." Unable to unpack others thoughts to come to a conclusion as to how they reached that thought.
For instance, I recently told a co-worker that his blindspot was how he treated brown people over white people (he being white). I noticed he would have a dialogue with the white person whereas he would dictate to the brown person. I brought this up to him to which he vehemently denied to. That's when I simply added "that is why it is a blindspot."
It's not to get a race thing going, but in our business there are a TON of Leftist who believe they are progressive Liberals. They are not. They are a pity parade with a sense of White guilt and a dash of well meaning. The point is, a white person won't ever understand the little slights that brown/black people feel. They chalk it up to "I think you're reading too much into it." Okay, next time I call you a "dickface dumbfuck" I'll simply say the same thing. You can't dismiss other cultural slights. IF you claim to be a Liberal. We expect it from a Conservative white, but a Liberal white is an insidious creature. They publicly champion the oppressed but truly have a worldview that we need saving to begin with. (hence my superiority complex towards the white folk at work).
Yes, I, and probably a lot of other brown folk do see these things when white people don't. We can joke all we want, but if one listens, dissects and concludes, they understand that we are capable and should be held to our idea that anyone can thrive. To the new Liberal, they don't think most of us thrive unless they pity us. And that is why a person of any color hates the new Liberal (or should).

But I digress, love to have cake, but at 45, may go into diabetic shock. Still full of piss though. Like Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond." My new hero.