Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it

The girls brushed past, lost in their own universe … teenagers against the world. What were these girls talking about? It was a beautiful, sunny Fall afternoon in Edinburgh. We’d been walking for hours and were headed to the pub when they passed. We burst into laughter, wondering how the innocence of youth becomes so adamant in its demands for recognition, respect and, sometimes even deference. We know everything when we’re fourteen. We’ve lived through myriad circumstances, both bad and good. Some of us have loving, protective families, and some of us don’t. Some of us feel the safety of a warm home and food on the table every day. Some of us lie awake at night huddled against the cold and trying to ignore the rumbling in our bellies. We may have siblings with whom we band together against the world or fight viciously against. Others of us learn how to survive on our own, disenfranchised in our own homes. Some of us have moved from home to home nearly as many times as we are old. Why is it that as we grow older, we lose our ability to acknowledge the simplicity with which people interact with each other?