Sun 20 September 2026

A couple of years before COVID, I was with a friend getting the house they were buying inspected, and afterwards we were asking the inspector some questions about what he had found. He was an older gentleman, and it was obvious that "this wasn't [his] first rodeo," and he had a lot of experience and knowledge in his field.

When we were done, I was standing outside the inspector's truck talking to him before he left, and while I don't remember exactly what he said, it dawned on me that he was a man of conscience: aware of the world around him, not cynical about the role he played in it, and concerned about things like equality and justice.

Honestly, it threw me for a bit of a loop. I had a "It was so long ago, even Ruk had forgotten!" moment: a long-forgotten memory suddenly triggered. (It's not a direct quote from the episode, but that's how I remembered the line ;)

You see, "Karens," "Boomers," and "Donalds" are an all-too-present meme within our society today. Crunchy, deep-fried brains devoid of conscience or compassion, running on pure spite and jaded cynicism. It's really a tragedy.

In that moment, I remembered something from my childhood. I remembered growing up in Austin around the university, surrounded by my parents friends and colleagues who were generally older, yet very conscientious. I grew up listening to folk music and protest music by the likes of Utah Phillips. Of course, not everything about my childhood was great (take my counseling bill, please! 😄), but I'm thankful to have had that pattern: meeting people who cared about the world around them, and not just "me and mine."

In that moment, I remembered that it used to be normal for me to expect the aged to exude wisdom and compassion, not avarice and cynicism. How did that ever become normal??

I still think about that old inspector from time to time, and I'm thankful that he reminded me that not everyone my age and older is a crunchy opportunist. But sadly (and this may just be because I live in the DFW metro), this is still not the norm. There is a film of jaded cynicism that seems to cover everything here, and even people significantly younger than me project a certain air of apathy that is quite sad to me.

So, I have to be all the more appreciative of the people that I meet that remind me that giving a rip is worthwhile.

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Category: Life
Tags: Ethics   Life   Monthly themes   Non-religious post   Non-technical post   Philosophy   Politics