It is not a matter of what separates us from them. We are all the same, just of each have different fuses. Some are real long, some are real short.
As you get older the fuse gets shorter ( at least it seems that way in the circle of people I know).
I can tell you from my own experience. Myself and most of my friends included. When I was 20 I used to take a lot more crap than I do now at 42.
And most of my friends around my age are the same way, you get to a point in life that you get tried of being f'd with. Most of the time when you are younger you are not tired of peoples crap.
Case in point, this guy was what? 57 years old?
I know I am getting pissed at being screwed by high gasoline prices, and high everything else. it seems every time I turn around some one is trying to stick their fricken hands in my pocket for more money. I get solicitors calling my house on a regular basis. They are nice at first, but then when you tell them no you are not giving them your money they get rude.
I am done with them, when I was younger I used to be polite, I would end up being on the phone with these a$$holes for 20 30 minutes.
I am tired of it, I don’t care any more, they can kiss my a$$, when someone calls now, if they are a solicitor, I politely say I am not interested, if they keep talking I either just hang up, or I tell them to take me off their call list then I hang up.
I don’t get angry any more, I don’t get frustrated, I just don’t care about their feelings so I just hang up.
I used to never just hang up on anyone, but now, I don’t care who it is. If someone is on a phone saying something I don’t feel like hearing, I rack the phone piece.
Another persons life also does not mean as much to me as it used to when I was younger. I am a Christian and I believe in God, but I really feel if push came to shove and I was required to take someone’s life to defend my own or my families, I am confident I could do it without batting an eye or feeling bad.
When I was younger, I don’t think I could take another life as easily without feeling some kind of remorse, even if it was justified. Now.. just doesn’t seem to matter as much.
I am not a bad a$$, I don’t consider myself a tough guy, I think I am a person that would bend over backwards to help anyone that “deserved†it. But in the same breath, the older I get, the less time I have on this planet, the more I realize that, and the less time I wish to waste and stupid people and useless endeavors.
And I don’t like being f’d with and if I am being f’d with, I will do whatever in my means to stop it.
Any other old farts want to chime in here?