THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY !Having just recently crossed the line into what is referred to pitilessly as "Old Age," I decided to take a look at what I'd learned in life. 
Thirty years ago, I knew just about everything there was to know about anything important. Twenty years ago, I decided that a lot of those things were unimportant to me, so I let that knowledge go. Ten years ago I discovered that 90% of what I knew had been proven to be wrong, so I let another whole bunch of my 'knowledge' depart. Yesterday, I made a miraculous discovery. Nobody gives a fig newton about 'book smarts'!!! Today, my brain is totally blank. (Tabula rasa, if I can remember what that means.) I knew a whole lot about a few things and few facts about a whole lot of things and that worked out well as long as I was talking with someone who could fill in the blanks. However, I find that as my conversational partners age, we seem to have narrowed our topics of expertise and interest to food, health, weather, taxes, politics, and 
I suggest that we all learn one bit of useless information and drop it into a general conversation daily. Someone will take the ball and run with it. Try: Don't squat on your spurs. Or: Starlings don't like to eat upside down. Ask a silly question such as. "Why do people say it's pouring down rain? Can anything be poured up?" Have you ever noticed that the people who appear to know the least are those most apt to speak out and defend their indefensible positions on any topic? Try reading "Letters to the Editor" in any small-town paper and you'll understand. Or message boards! 
I find overzealous, opinionated, and self-appointed experts on multiple subjects a definite bore. I dislike having people talk down to me, especially when I'm positive that I know more than they do! I'm as tolerant as the next person when it comes to appreciating others’ opinions. If people agree with me, I do appreciate their doing so! As I approach senility and the gradual but continuing diminution of my remaining faculties, treat me nicely. I get testy when I don't get the last word!
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