Thoughts and cultural references are transient

I was thinking about so many things being transient, but actually everything is.

Thoughts are remarkably transient; they come and then they’re gone in the twinkling of an eye, never to be remembered. Well, not without a pen or a stylus to hand.

And my eye doesn’t twinkle as much these days; is that age related?

Given the chance, I write thoughts down in a quick jumble before I forget them, then sort them out and make them legible later. Trouble is, sometimes I can’t read them or work out what I might have been thinking. Probably nothing of historical significance anyway.

I’ve realised of late the transient nature of cultural references and the huge percentage that are completely irrelevant to younger people, and also noticed that it becomes more pronounced as you get older.

It’s part of my, undoubtedly annoying, nature to make asinine remarks during conversations, in relation to comments that people make and about events, probably linked to my problem with word finding. However, as I get older, many of the references that I might link to these events or comments are also ageing, and therefore mean absolutely nothing to the reluctant, and frequently younger, addressees.

If I’m making reference to something that happened thirty or forty years ago, and the recipients of my remarks are under the age of thirty or forty, it’s likely that my comment will mean absolutely nothing to them. There will be no corresponding cultural reference point and my pithy and pertinent remark will be irrelevant and immaterial.

Damn, now I’m even less relevant than I used to be, and that was starting from a low base.

Everything is transient. Transience makes a change, and change is good for you.