...you used to hate to hear people talk about old times?

i was not annoyed to hear about actual circumstances external to themselves. i only found it annoying and still do, when people tell only the same stories repeatedly and never one word about anything outside of or around the edges of them. alkies do the same thing, and i find their doing so equally annoying for precisely the same reason.

 

You are right that never changes, it's natural that youth wants to get as much distance as quickly as they can. For some reason I was not like that though. Even when I was little I was interested in my heritage and stories about what came before. It's because I was trying to sort out how we got to where we were, even when I was really little. I remember reading all about the Nazis in the first grade because I wanted to understand WWII. And finding fossils and trying to understand where they came from. Same with the old people I wanted to hear all their stories. I was a weird kid.

 

I can honestly say that in one way it was better. That is, you didn't have to THINK ABOUT or WORRY ABOUT the government much, like we have to do now. It just hummed along getting things done, as I recall.

 

People who rewrite their history, or sweep it all under the carpet get more respect.. I've never wanted to hide anything, but I didn't want to be respected for a life I didn't lead..