Commentary: On becoming a curmudgeon

By BEN OLSON/For The Herald — It occurs to me that I have reached the age and my ethos has evolved to the point that, I believe, I am now a curmudgeon. You may choose to use that term in a pejorative sense. I, however, am just fine with the idea that I can finally “call ‘em like I see ‘em” without fear of repercussion. My wife has been seeing this show for a while now and she appears to be okay with it. I no longer hold a job that I could lose for being too opinionated.

When I think of curmudgeons, the old CBS newsman Andy Rooney comes to mind right away. For much of my adult life, he was there on 60 Minutes, always old, always crusty, complaining about the ridiculous things going on in our world that shouldn’t be like that. To some ears he was just complaining, but like a truly good curmudgeon, he was hoping that by shedding a light on something, things may actually get better.

On the short list of noted people who would be considered curmudgeons are Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, W.C. Fields and H.L. Mencken. They were all witty and direct and did not easily suffer fools. Literature and popular entertainment are filled with characters with gruff exteriors and hearts of gold.

Now that I have elevated myself to this position, I promise to use all my powers for good, not evil, and try to make my points without, as my wife likes to say, blame, shame, or criticism. My views have taken a long lifetime to get where they’re at. I’ve been wrong about things, had new information presented to me and have come to some new truths and conclusions. There’s no reason to think that my life philosophy will not continue to move forward until I take my last breath.

I was just interrupted by the same phone solicitor whose number I blocked after being interrupted yesterday. You’ll be hearing more about this.

Ben Olson is an Oakridge musician who performs solo and with the trio Song Dawgz.