The cliché (and the research) has it that people mellow as they get older, but I haven’t seen much evidence of it. I can think of many older people who if anything have become more acerbic.
Politicians especially can get less mellow and double down on their entrenched opinions rather than modify them. But lots of public figures are equally hard-line, not to mention one’s own elderly relatives who often become more vituperative rather than less.
Certainly my father got less mellow rather than more. He
would fume and rage for days over all sorts of things. My mother on the other
hand tended to be naturally mellow and take everything in her stride.
I think I’ve got mellower as I’ve aged. I don’t get so
worked up over global events or neighbourhood disputes or difficult individuals
as I used to. I tend to shrug my shoulders and leave others to make a fuss.
But I’ve always been somewhat mellow. Even when I was at
school I never aligned myself with the boys who enjoyed making fun of their
schoolmates or taunting the masters. I always felt for the victims and stayed
well out of it.
The world could certainly do with a lot more mellowness and
a lot less belligerence.
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