Another view!

Have you noticed that people avoid arguing with you now that you're in your sunset years? If only I would have known it was going to be like this I would have gone to my sunset years 50 years ago! There was a time, actually about 65 years of my life, when everybody argued about everything and often with me.


I was usually on the other side of the fence with a different opinion, and how I survived is still a mystery to me. I am often reminded of the "blond joke" that tells about one blond walking on one side of the river and another blond walking on the other side. One blond yells across the river to the other, "Hey, how do you get to the other side of this river?" The other blond stands there contemplating her answer and finally says, "You are on the other side!"


Well, I don't remember ever arguing with anybody about which side of the river I was on but I sure remember the arguing! My kids were the worst. They argued continuously with each other about everything! They nearly drove me crazy. I can't even count the times I had to physically prevent these two boys from doing each other in. This arguing has gone on for the past 40 years until today when rather than arguing with each other instead now they have nothing to do with each other! This is a mother's nightmare to say the least!

But it wasn't only my kids who argued. Everybody argued and adults were just as bad. Today at my ripe old age I have a much easier time convincing people I'm right so there's no reason to argue. Today people say things like "You're probably right, Pat," or "What you say makes a lot of sense, Pat," and that's the end of it. Maybe they just don't want to upset me because they don't want to see a rise in my blood pressure..who knows.

Actually it is rather refreshing not to have to argue anymore. I guess I just don't understand why it hasn't always been this way. Life is so much easier and much less stressful without the arguing. I used to ask my kids, "Do you think we can go the next 5 miles without you guys arguing?" "Can you just shut up for 5 minutes?" Well, that never happened either and the stress never stopped.

I have often defended the act of arguing because I've always believed that if an argument is constructive it can be a good thing. On the other hand if we all stood on top of the same mountain we would all have the same view and arguing wouldn't exist at all. I don't know that humans could adapt to that. I mean think about it..what would life on earth be...if we all had the same view? I guess we would all shop at Wal-Mart, right?