Grey, but not grey in mind

There is a mythology that says that older people tend to get less radical as they get older. The thesis says that age brings a greater acceptance of the 'grey' areas of understanding, and that means one is less willing to commit to an idea.

I have NEVER found this to be the case. If anything, I've grown far more radical as I've grown older. This doesn't mean I've become ever more intolerant. On the contrary, I'm more than willing to listen to 'the other side's argument'... provided it's ethical and makes sense.

The problem is, my radicalism/dialecticism has made me more argumentative and irritated at clearly stupid assertions. It's made me less patient. My fuse has shortened. I have come to resent people who are too lazy to do the work of reading around the matters they presume to support and then unwilling to do anything but be the usual Party apparatchiks.

It's easy to go with flow. Gods' know, I'm aware of that in the blood.

By Bea Groves-McDaniel. 27th October 2026. Originally a Facebook post.