Old Attitudes.

There is only one thing in this world that is constant - change. If you don't adapt to the ever-changing world, you stagnate. Some people never change, no matter what circumstance throws at him or her.

Today I came across a man who seems stuck.

Stuck in the world of work that he left twenty years ago. Still referring to himself in the third person and still giving himself the title before his surname, that he used to have. Very telling to me and my colleague, but we couldn't show our amusement.

You could tell this man was used to the finer things in life at one stage and was used to getting his own way. But that was twenty years ago and he still expects to get everything for nothing.

He spoke like he had golf balls in his mouth and stood with his chest firmly stuck out. His nose was pointed north with spectacles perched on the bridge. The man barely smiled or interacted with his wife for two hours.

Everything he did talk about was spoken in a patronising tone. The only time light shone brightly in his face was when he talked of his former glories -  of when I was but a glimmer in my father's eye. I listened intently to him - firstly out of politeness and secondly - it interested me.

But when I spoke of more recent times, he suddenly became disinterested. When I spoke of when I started working, he rudely picked up his paper.

He may as well have said "Go away now, young man. I've finished talking."

That's what annoys me. When people stop learning things about themselves or others. When they stop growing as a person. When their tolerance of simply listening to another person reaches a "full" level.

They are, in effect, giving up on life.

It fascinates me that this man has travelled the world and probably seen many things in his life - yet seems intent on focusing only on his own existence.
Old habits die hard. Kind of sad really.