by Sky'sGoneOut » Fri 06 Oct, 2017 2:19 am
I feel my mental accuity decreasing as I grow older. My memory is getting worse, I'm slower at mental arithmetic, understanding new concepts takes an effort it never did previously, I find myself struggling to remember the names of people, songs, films. My brain is undeniably deteriorating.
And I'm only in my Forties.
I bring this up because I was lying in bed this morning listening to Ken Clarke on the radio going on and on interminably. Now much as I respect Ken for being one of the few semi-sane Tories of the old order he kept repeating himself, evidently unaware that he was doing it, then contradicting things he'd said just a couple of minutes ago. I'm not saying he has dementia or anything, I imagine Ken's perfectly mentally healthy for a man of his age. But it was clear he wasn't aware of the entirety of what he was saying.
So I'm wondering why we have this glib assumption that with age comes wisdom?
With age may come inreased knowledge and experience but it's being used with brains that are past their sell by dates.
I feel my mental accuity decreasing as I grow older. My memory is getting worse, I'm slower at mental arithmetic, understanding new concepts takes an effort it never did previously, I find myself struggling to remember the names of people, songs, films. My brain is undeniably deteriorating.
And I'm only in my Forties.
I bring this up because I was lying in bed this morning listening to Ken Clarke on the radio going on and on interminably. Now much as I respect Ken for being one of the few semi-sane Tories of the old order he kept repeating himself, evidently unaware that he was doing it, then contradicting things he'd said just a couple of minutes ago. I'm not saying he has dementia or anything, I imagine Ken's perfectly mentally healthy for a man of his age. But it was clear he wasn't aware of the entirety of what he was saying.
So I'm wondering why we have this glib assumption that with age comes wisdom?
With age may come inreased knowledge and experience but it's being used with brains that are past their sell by dates.