{"id":3375,"date":"2023-01-31T15:39:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T15:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=3375"},"modified":"2023-02-05T15:48:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T15:48:25","slug":"curmudgeons-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=3375","title":{"rendered":"Curmudgeons Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A couple of\u00a0 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\u2019t<\/em> necessarily all bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t care whether or not people like him \u2014 he\u2019s too old to worry about that \u2014 and \u2014 his knees hurt. He doesn\u2019t 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 \u2014 and very often, the curmudgeon turns out to be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 if they were we probably wouldn\u2019t have the wheel, toothbrushes, phones, and other things that have benefited the human race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve 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\u2019re constantly paying attention. That\u2019s another thing that annoys curmudgeons \u2014 they take a more methodical, and slower, approach to events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve 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\u2019s great that some people are grounded enough to point out the obvious absurdities that surround us \u2014 Andy Rooney was one of those people\u2026 he was a curmudgeon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think a young person can be a curmudgeon. They may be cynical and\/or skeptical, but they haven\u2019t lived through enough defeats or suffered enough personal setbacks to be a true curmudgeon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I think the world needs us curmudgeons \u2014 if we weren\u2019t around, I\u2019m convinced that our society would careen downhill into chaos very fast.
So I will continue to be a curmudgeon \u2014 while I don\u2019t consider myself a churlish<\/em> old man, I do detest hypocrisy and pretense and I\u2019m compelled to expose these things at every opportunity.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of\u00a0 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\u2019t necessarily all bad. I think that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3397,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3375\/revisions\/3397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}