So, I went to our craft group today. It’s a fun group run by a very lively lady
But it is mostly older ladies. There’s one man who comes with his wife, a mum with her toddler and a few in their 30/40/50s
So I’m sitting there, drinking a nice cappucino and making a Dorset button, feeling very relaxed, thinking “this is nice” and all’s right with the world
And then the group to my left started in on what’s wrong with young people and modern life……
We had:
They have no manners, they don’t say please and thank you and have no social graces
They don’t speak properly. They drop their “aitches”, say “axe” instead of “ask” and “fed up of” instead of “fed up with”
They don’t appreciate how lucky they are and we need another war to teach them to be grateful for what they’ve got
We need to have National Service again
We worked all our life and are entitled to the triple lock
Asylum seekers should have to work for their keep in gangs sweeping the streets and clearing the roads
Jeez, it was like sitting next to a group of living cliches!
I couldn’t contradict or argue because it’s a craft group not a political arena and I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it
But why, oh why, do old people moan all the sodding time?
I have no idea what a “Dorset button” is but I just love that sentence!
What a perfect introduction to begin a story …
I know what you mean about some old folk being inveterate moaners - it makes me wonder what their own family are like because I think the young people in my family are wonderful and I don’t recognise the way the moaners describe the young.
However, just as young folk are all different and don’t deserve to be all painted with the same brush, I’ve found that not all old folk are the same either.
I help run a charity organisation and co-ordinate a roster of 100 volunteers, mostly retired folk. (I’ve been doing it since I was “young” but I am one of those old folk myself now!)
My favourite volunteers are those gems who see the positive side of life and look for the good in people and situations - they are like a ray of sunshine.
Then there are the “negs”, the pains in the arris, who moan about anything and everything and can’t cope with any change, however slight. I can’t help thinking there must be something missing in their life to make them feel so miserable and critical of everyone else.
The rest of the volunteers seem to fall somewhere in between the two extremes - but I’ve noticed how easily the “negs” can drag other volunteers down to their level of negativity and the “positive gems” can brighten up everyone’s day. I try to mix and match them together on the roster, so they can balance each other and we don’t get a day with too many negative moaners together dragging everybody down.
Yes, it is true, there are some lovely fun people in the group and the lady who runs it is an absolute diamond
But I feel a bit sorry for your positive gems that you rota on with the misery guts to achieve a balance, tough on them to get lumbered, perhaps you should just rota all the negs on together and give the positive ones a break!
A Dorset button is a traditional button they’ve been making in Dorsey since the 17th century! It involves winding thread around a metal ring and it’s very therapeutic and relaxing…. it must be… I didn’t try to kill the moaners!
As for our rota, it wouldn’t be fair on our customers (who are Hospital patients, staff and visitors) to put all the negs on duty together - life in hospital is tough enough without being greeted with a load of moaning and misery when you call at the Friends of the Hospital shop for a sandwich or a bar of chocolate and a chat - it’s supposed to cheer you up!
Shit is happening here at the moment. Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. Three water mains have burst within one mile of each other. Happened early today and no tap water since, Rainwater from garden butts is being used by the residents to flush the toilet. No idea when the repairs will start let alone be completed, Moaning old person? you’d better believe it!!
It’s a kind of rite passed on from one generation to the next.
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
(Socrates )
Yes I put my hand up I do moan at times .
Mainly about the weather it’s horrible !!!
However I am in good health which is always a blessing .
Young people today don’t have such a hard life but they will . The future is not bright for them problems are mounting up that they will have to deal with .
They are soft and naive however will they cope ?
