Narrow Minds

I don't know why, but a little while ago, the old humorous truism "Old age is when the narrowness of your waist and openness of your mind change places" came wandering through my head.

I guess being "narrow minded" takes on many shapes, but the one that troubles me the most — which I have alluded to previously — is this idea of people not merely wanting their way, but needing to eliminate all OTHER ways from existence.

Seems to me that it is precisely that kind of mindset that ends up plunging nations into useless wars that leads to needless loss of life.

Except... and this is the hardest part for me to wrap my head around... maybe the instigators don't actually see that loss of life as "needless," but necessary.

Try as I might, I have never been able to visualize the mindset of wanting to eliminate anyone different from yourself. It must come from a mind totally riddled with fear...

I worry about living in a world that is so motivated by fear. Or maybe it's a combination of fear and aggression, I'm not entirely sure.

My background and upbringing was always one of wanting to do my thing and have my opinions, but those things were never dependent on the presence or absence of the beliefs and actions of other people... they were basically internally driven.

I look around, and I see so much of the world also driven by envy. People seem to want what other people have and they get angry when they don't. Instead of the obvious (to me) choice of finding some way to work towards what those others have, the more common choice seems to be to attack them instead and take it from them.

Just doesn't seem emotionally or psychologically balanced or healthy.

I'm going to butcher an old quote I came across somewhere that sums up the state of the world as I see it, quite well:

Most people live in a reality where they adjust their perspective to fit the facts. Only the extremely powerful and extremely narcissistic live in a world where they adjust the facts to fit their perspective. Which is unfortunate, if you happen to be one of the facts in need of adjusting!

I don't have any interest in being "adjusted" by someone who doesn't happen to share or like my worldview! And it's disturbing that this is even a thing.

Sometimes I don't feel like I even belong on this planet...

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

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Created at 2026.03.28 00:59 PST
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