Have I become a victim of the thinking, that I always warned my daughters against? Well, maybe, perhaps...possibly.
It never went so far as to make me cringe, but my antennae went up, whenever I heard the words..."Oh, look at that sweet old man", or "Look at that sweet old woman." I always told my girls that, yes, there are sweet old men and sweet old women, but, those would be the men and women, who have been that way all through their lives.
One doesn't become sweet and good, just because one gets old. There is no potion or pill, to make that happen. An ornery young person, usually turns into an ornery old person. And, I might have paraphrased, a time or two, William Faulkner's, "Once a bitch, always a bitch..."or, maybe, something like that.
So, sweet old Walter with that shock of white hair, or Walter the misanthrope, who never liked anyone? I'm sticking with my original Walter, as my gut always told me he was a lonely, old soul. If not, I guess sadly, he bore the responsibility, in the end.
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