I was sitting around the locker room with some old men after working out. We really don’t know each other well, but we shared gripes and complaints galore. You could have powered several Lewis Black rants with the negativity. Age, youth, women, politics, weather…even God.

My first thought was to get home and write about it, share the sharp insights and general wittiness with the rest of the unenlightened world. At my desk, fingers poised above the keyboard, however, a quote from a favorite television show came to mind: “What all old people need is a positive attitude and someone to share it with.”

Hm. One of the main reasons Old People (OP) complain is it is one of the few activities we can do, anymore. It used to be OP were wise, too, from all the years of learning. But generations of non-OP folks ignoring and disrespecting us OP has left us jaded, ignored, and unheard. So we complain,…for attention.

But complaining doesn’t work, makes us even more un-noticed, and fosters an intended disrespect instead of just plain, old disinterest.

Thank God, my television show was on this morning when I began to write and the quote was repeated, a sign, I understood, from God: no more complaining.

I am by nature a contented person, liking all life offers except for fools, selfish people, and inconsiderate dolts (FSPID)*, so I was forced to explain to myself why complain, at all. Granted, a majority of the American population falls into one or more of the FSPIDs, but that’s always been the case, even when I was young. Did I complain, then? Or middle age?

So. As noted, I have someone to share my thoughts with: the locker room. Now all I need is to reignite the positivity somehow lost in the last decade. But I wonder if I’ll have to find a new locker room with a new group of OP…

* Pronounced “Fizzpids”