Opus 2024-223: Ode to Old: Age Has Its Privileges

One of the reasons that older people are not so adventuresome and seeking out new thrills is because they’ve already been there and done that.

I always am a little perplexed when people tell me I need to try something new on the menu at a restaurant.  Now, if this is a weird exotic, ethnic restaurant, where I have never tried anything, and have no idea what it’s like, I am willing to experiment.  I am willing to explore.  That goes with the territory.  But when I am in a restaurant that I have been going to regularly for 20 years, you young whippersnappers need to understand that I’ve already tried everything on the menu that is even remotely interesting and I’ve decided on what I like.  There is a good chance I have taken the risk of their new offerings often enough to know they don’t have the touch of tasty creativity.  I don’t need to experiment anymore.

What brought this to mind was my oatmeal this morning.  I have tried instant oatmeal. Disgusting.  I have tried quick oatmeal.  Barely palatable.  I have tried steel cut oatmeal and found I’m not patient enough to wait for it and it doesn’t taste good enough to justify the time.  So I’ve settled on old fashion oatmeal.  According to the directions it takes five minutes and you’re to stir it occasionally.  I find after much experimentation that I will let it simmer for five minutes, but I won’t stir it.  That technique produces it just the way I want it.  If I were preparing a meal for the family I would not do it that way.  If I were making oatmeal for you, I would try to find out how you like it.  But most mornings I’m just making it for me and I have found that by not stirring and leaving it on for five minutes it has a chewy consistency that I really enjoy.  Same is true in many areas of life.

Know that age has its privileges.  One of them is that I don’t need to experiment on the newest type of sushi that has been offered at a local restaurant.  I can go out for sushi.  I’ve eaten whale sushi in Japan, where nobody spoke English and you had to point at what you wanted.  When the jury is out, you can keep trying things.  But when the jury is in and the verdict is declared there is no need to go back and try everything that somebody has used their creativity to put together.

Maybe it’s not that age has its privileges, it could just be that age has its wisdom.  We don’t have anybody to impress.

homo unius libri