Hilltowns Senior News for Friday, January 22, 2016

Fuddy-duddy. That was what we used to call somebody who didn’t keep up with the times, who was sluggish, old-fashioned, and un-cool.

So how did I become one?  I remember my pride in never reading anything that was a best seller, but that was intellectual nonsense. My alleged reasoning was that anything that appealed to a mass market must be trash, and targeted to the lowest common denominator. It was also in error, a.k.a. wrong. Some writing becomes popular simply because it’s good.

But how did this morph into a false pride in not keeping up with technology? When did we become so resistant to change that we deliberately refuse it?  I understand that human beings in general fear change; it’s a version of fear of the unknown.  But when did the Dick Tracy wrist radio stop being awesome and start being scary? When it became possible?

Yes, as we get older we realize that change for its own sake isn’t always the answer. Sometimes deliberation and caution are a good idea.

OK, but why haven’t I learned how to Skype? (I think that’s the software that lets you talk face-to-face with someone via computer.)  I haven’t suddenly become stupid, so why am I so resistant?

I’m not a big fan of the current trend toward nonexistent privacy.  My security is important to me, but failing to learn new techniques doesn’t make me safer; it makes me more vulnerable. Yes, knowing how to do things the old-fashioned way is great protection against disaster in the absence of technology and electricity, but not knowing how to communicate, and use information with technology, leaves me at an even greater disadvantage.

The Dowager Dutchess on Downton Abbey called the telephone a device of torture. Admittedly, we write fewer well-thought-out letters these days, and we may have lost something through that. 

We now have many more words flying around on the Internet, but it takes more time to separate the wheat from the chaff. (Note to the young people: This was a process where the kernels of wheat were agitated until their hulls, known as chaff, came off.)  On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to check the accuracy of data today.

Why has this attitude persisted? Socrates (and those in every generation since) has lamented the wayward ways of the younger generation.

OK, it may be that whatever set of standards were in effect as we were forming our ideas about the world seem the most “right” to us because they are familiar. We associate them with a time in our lives when there was security, constancy, and hence, safety. (I wonder what percentage of revolutionaries and major change instigators had lousy childhoods, and did that make it easier for them to break with tradition?) “Comfort foods” are most often found in memories of childhood. 

Is there something inherent in the aging process that makes us this way? Is there some neurochemical that decreases and makes us less adaptive?

Have we just gotten lazy, or want things our own way because it involves less effort? I’d hate to think that my love of the Victorians was just some sort of endocrine imbalance.  (But the Victorians were a rigid, uncomfortable, and hypocritical bunch, if truth be told.) So how did it become a source of pride to be backward?

Whatever the reason, I think I’m going to have to let go of some of that reverse snobbery; I don’t like the implications of what it says about my adaptability, capability, and personality. I’ll just have to find something else to be peculiar about (no shortage there!) Windows 10, bring it on!

Menu

And speaking of new things, the new menu for next week’s lunch at the Hilltown Senior Center is here!

Swap tales with friends, and enjoy a lunch that you don’t have to cook.  Doors open at 11 a.m., and lunch is served promptly at noon.

We have games and cards on Mondays, bingo on Tuesday, and live music on Fridays.

— Monday, Jan. 25: Chili over rice, braised collard greens, cornbread, milk, and applesauce;

— Tuesday, Jan 26: Roast pork with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, whole-wheat stuffing, milk, and tropical fruit; 

— Friday, Jan. 29: Macaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes, California blendvegetables, whole wheat, milk, and apricots.

Please call 24 hours in advance to 872-9400 to reserve lunch.  Email HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" , or sign up when you come in. Tell us how many are coming, your name, and your telephone number.  If you’d just like to come and help out, give Mary Moller a call at 861-6253, or email her at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" , and put “volunteer” in the subject line.

Lunches are provided by Helderberg Senior Services, the Albany County Department of Aging, and Senior Services of Albany. The Hilltown Senior Center is located at 1360 Helderberg Trail (Route 443) in Berne.