The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom for December 03, 2023

Shared experiences.;-D

This brings to mind 1 Corinthians 13:11 – “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things.” taken to a progression of levels. : )

I overheard the end of a conversation between the man in front of me in line and a man in the next line. “Yes, we still get together, just not on the drag. We used to talk about our pickup trucks and girls. Now we talk about doctor our visits and joint replacements.” Now that I’m old, I understand fully how health becomes such a key issue in life. I have to make myself talk about other things. LOL

My friends are all over 60 (and me too). The only thing we can share now are our medical records.

The secret is to remember that you have two ears and one mouth and use them in that proportion.

I won’t bore you!

And I suppose those who are no longer with us to complain about their ailments.

Brutus has worse posture then me when sitting in a comfy chair, and that’s saying a lot.

Reminds me of when my mother accused my dad of causing her to lose her friends after she married. But that wasn’t his fault. It was because her friends were still single so they talked about single girl stuff. My mother was married now so her single friends didn’t have as much in common with her as they had when she was single. She needed to find new friends with newly married women.

I’ve found that as I get older the aches and pains have supplanted my interest in sports (except Footy). To address this I have decided to develop a new game called “Cane Hockey”. It’s like Field Hockey but with your cane instead of a field hockey stick and the field is much smaller, about the size of a Basketball or Tennis court, with 20 players on each side so you don’t have to hobble very far to get to the ball. And the only players who can play goalie must have a handicap placard hanging from their neck.

It’s become awkward answering the question How are you feeling?, so I’ve come up with a way to stop being asked. Everything hurts and I’m dyeing, or I feel as though you’re violating my HIPA rights or Grab a chair, we’re gonna be awhile. People only ask me that once and now they get straight to the point of their interruption. I do enjoy making people feel uncomfortable.

I’ll be 83 next month but I don’t believe it. I never have conversations about my health with anyone.

I try hard not to discuss my physical ailments, doing so doesn’t make me feel any better and I don’t want to inflict a litany of complaints on my friends because I’d like to keep the few friends I have.

Uncle Ted is very wise, and very cool.

Yep.

To be thought of as a good conversationalist, just get someone to talk about their own self.

I have a Ted in the family, a cousin-in-law who I so enjoy talking to. But, we seldom get together and when I call him, he always assumes I want to talk to my cousin. What Brutus’ uncle says is so true. When you’re older, we do talk about our ailments, and the needs of others, too.

I resemble that last remark Uncle Ted

It seems they’d rather hear that than my usual politics, religion, sex, & the grand unified conspiracy theory.

i’m very familiar with the last panel’s type of conversation!

this made me think of something I heard. An elderly man’s grandson asked him what being old was like, he replied great, when he was 20 women around 20 looked good, at 40 women under 40 looked good, at 80 they all look good

Hostage situation – you’re taught to listen 90% of time and talk 10%. Same goes for visiting the sick and needy within the ministry to rest/nursing homes, hospitals or sick/shut ins or Folks with problems. Works positive in marriage also if you listen to wife/children.

I never really have much in common with other people… except the pains and aches and ailments part. :}

I feel that!!!

I can relate to Uncle Ted in that last panel

So true. And with guys, it often remains a game of one upmanship no matter what the topic is. My kids are better. My team is better. My job is better. My aches are worse.

yep

The organ recital.

Been there, done that. I was more of a listener, but I would move away if the talker was not interesting to me. I like a sense of humor.

A lot conversations at my age (78) start with,“Do you remember…?”

The Art of conversation has been so important throughout Man’s development over the years, ever since mankind uttered its first words. While communication with others is so important to everyone, many do have problems communicating with others due to physical and psychological limitations or other issues. As a trial attorney and teacher, while I am not the most eloquent of speakers, I have no fear of talking with anyone (I was also a hostage negotiator as a police officer. So I do have the gift of gab as they used to say.) However, I do not like the conversation surrounding the aches and pains of getting old, aside from the conversation surrounding the question "How are you doing today?, that we always say when we meet up with someone as a greeting. I am fortunate to still be in decent shape with no chronic pains and there is so much more to discuss about goings on in this world. The topics of History, Religion and Current events and its relation to History would keep me in a conversation with other appreciates of those topics for hours on end. Uncle Ted and I would never ever get to those aching joints as a topic of conversation. I would bet the cost of lunch or dinner with him over that. One easy way to enter into an engagement of conversation with another person is to initially to get them to tak about themselves, a topic that they are generally fluent and knowledheable in, though for some, that is not as easy as it may sound . Once you have crossed that Rubicon, and that is not as easy as one might think, as there is a need for trust before one will open up, conversation with that person will flow like the MIssissippi River……

I try not to, remembering conversations I’ve heard from old people when I was young, but sometimes an OW comes out.

We still talk about sports, but now it’s sports injuries, like when we get a cramp in our hand from using the remote.

Uncle Ted left out one of the most important topics of conversation as we age, and that’s the Good Old Days.

So Chip, is Uncle Ted Brutus’ mothers brother or Brutus’s fathers brother or is he Gladys mothers’ brother or Gladys’ fathers brother and they like him and call him uncle or just a neighbor whose name is “Uncle Ted” and they like him. Which is it Chip?

And then Brutus says, “that’s all Gladys talks about and she is half your age”…

I bet they still talk about sports

Being your age is mandatory, acting your age is optional

As a hospital volunteer with a therapy dog, I listen to a lot of medical complaints. A LOT. Sometimes I just listen, but on occasion I will toss out a remark or two about myself, as some people like to have a conversation like that. Not everyone wants to just complain. Some want to get it out, but want to commiserate, too. Today we were threatened by two dogs who were not supposed to be in the hospital. We ran into them walking back in after a trip outdoors, and we didn’t know they were there, coming out, and we were in a small vestibule when the two started growling and barking and threatening to harm us – there was another person with me and her dog. It scared my dog, who didn’t even bark back, and she became slightly fearful of greeting people after that with her usual tail-up bright enthusiasm. I called security when I got home, since I know there are cameras with video all over the hospital. No one else has spoken up about animals being taken in without prior written permission who are not part of our group of approved certified therapy dogs. The humans said their dogs were therapy dogs. They were way too reactive for that to be true, plus our hospital does not accept their breed in our therapy dog program. A few weeks ago a dog was brought in who also barked and growled at my dog from a stroller, but the person got out of my sight too quickly for me to do anything about it. Today security listened to my complaints. I was lucky I wasn’t calling them from the ER.

Uncle Ted can always talk about the day he switched from using Absorbine Jr, to usingAbsorbine Pro I suppose.. Anyhow old people are supposed to smell like that anyways.

You got that right, Uncle Ted!