A couple of days ago we all (some of us anyway) celebrated Curmudgeons Day. After thinking about it, I thought I should explain a little about us curmudgeons and why being a curmudgeon isn’t necessarily all bad.
I think that a curmudgeon is basically a pessimist that may have a grumpy outlook because of experience and a realization that the good in the world has been hard-won and is always vulnerable to hare-brained schemes of dreamers and idiots that are everywhere in abundance. I guess a true curmudgeon really doesn’t care whether or not people like him — he’s too old to worry about that — and — his knees hurt. He doesn’t imagine he can change the world. When a new exciting idea comes along, a curmudgeon will wonder about all the disastrous ways it can go wrong — and very often, the curmudgeon turns out to be right.
Motivational speakers, the newest gadgets, diet fads, nutritional supplements, exercise programs and the people that fall for their pitches annoy the curmudgeon because he knows that someone is getting rich off these people, and he wants no part of it.
Of course not everyone should be a curmudgeon — if they were we probably wouldn’t have the wheel, toothbrushes, phones, and other things that have benefited the human race.
I’ve noticed lately that when I turn on the news, all news is breaking news, everything is an emergency and it must be reported as such to make sure you’re constantly paying attention. That’s another thing that annoys curmudgeons — they take a more methodical, and slower, approach to events.
I’ve watched 60 Minutes for many years and one of my favorites on the program was Andy Rooney. The stories he told often pointed out the absurdity of humankind, and the way he told them helped give a much needed perspective. I think it’s great that some people are grounded enough to point out the obvious absurdities that surround us — Andy Rooney was one of those people… he was a curmudgeon.
I don’t think a young person can be a curmudgeon. They may be cynical and/or skeptical, but they haven’t lived through enough defeats or suffered enough personal setbacks to be a true curmudgeon.
So I think the world needs us curmudgeons — if we weren’t around, I’m convinced that our society would careen downhill into chaos very fast.
So I will continue to be a curmudgeon — while I don’t consider myself a churlish old man, I do detest hypocrisy and pretense and I’m compelled to expose these things at every opportunity.
— 30 —