I am forced back to my blogspot because of an important discovery I made just this week : There is an horrible epidemic spreading among our young people that must be addressed quickly, or they will be seriously impaired all of their lives.

The poor y0ung things are showing signs of serious hearing and seeing impediments!! Example: I walk in the mall each day (to keep my figure trim and healthy) and on this occasion I stopped at a kiosk to get a new battery for my wristwatch. The older man in charge was talking to a young man in some foreign language (Pharisee, I learned) and I interrupted and asked him, "How much for a new battery for this watch?" He promptly replied, "Ten dollars." "Too much," I said, "I can buy a new one at Walmarts for that. "What would be a fair price?" he asked. "Five bucks," my reply.

At that time the young man spoke rapidly to him (in their strange language, of course) and they both nodded. "Okay," he said, "I'll do it for 5 dollars."

As he worked on my watch, my curiosity got the better of me(as it so often does) and I asked him, "What did that young man say to you?"

He said, "Give it to her for 5 dollars; she's an OLD Lady."

Now, obviously that young man is visibly impaired!!! I am not an old lady. Actually I am approximately somewhere in midlife , and at times I am much younger than that, just depending on my mood, you understand. That poor young lad is obviously going blind!

I find other young people giving like evidence of poor sight. Some of them stand back, open a door for me, and occasionally even have the audacity to hold on to my arm as I step through -- as if I were a doddering old lady incapable of managing to get through a door safely!!! It's appalling!

As if that is not enough evidence of this plague, there are some young people I pass right by in the mall who do not even SEE me. I know this is true because I look them in the eye, speak to them sweetly, and they never give any evidence that I am even there. They haven't seen me. It's pitiful!

As far as their hearing impairment, I have made this judgment because of talking to my grandchildren. I engage them with an fabulously interesting story of what I did when I was sixteen, and their eyes glaze over, their tongues loll out in a peculiar way, and they gasp for breath. It's obvious they are unable to hear me at all. It does no good to talk to their parents about this problem; they don't hear very well either.

I can sympathisize, to a degree, with these impairments. There is nothing wrong with my hearing, at all, but sometimes I do not see as clearly as I should.

For example, the other day at the mall, I looked across and saw a tall, gray haired lady striding along at about my pace, wearing a red leather jacket and wearing a TexasTech ball cap, and for a second I thought she looked a bit like me.

But it was the lighting after all.

That lady had GREY hair; mine has a sexy platinum sheen. She was slightly stooped; I always stride with shoulders back and head erect. And, my god, even with one glance, I saw that she was wrinkled.

So, I understand the problem. But it is such a pity that young people are the main ones suffering this phenomenon! Perhaps as they age a bit, their good genes will kick in and their hearing and seeing will improve.

Anyhow, that's my wish for them, and until that happens, I will do my best to be understanding , sympathetic, and non-judgmental and keep on loving them anyhow.