"Explain this to me like I'm a four-year old."
I like this line from the movie "Philadelphia". I liked how Denzel Washington's lawyer character uses it as a legal tactic, but I also like it a rule to live by. Can you explain it easily, whatever "it" is?
If you cannot, try to wrap your head around it (How does that work, actually, come to think of it? A wrap-around head? That sounds kind of painful.)
But seriously, if you cannot explain it, try to clarify your thoughts. Line up the points for your argument. Provide background information and context. Don't just give an opinion and justify it with "BECAUSE I SAID SO!", but give me real reasons supported by logic.
Why do I care about this? I like my brain. I enjoy thinking. And I worry about my brain's abilities to reason. Some days I feel like I cannot form a coherent train of thought. In German, the expression is "ich kann nicht von zwölf bis Mittag denken" - I can't think from twelve to noon.
Remember yesterday, when I said I had no words, only crap? My thoughts were all ajumble. I could not think of anything to discuss, and once I went to my original prompt of "disagreements", I could not get the thoughts from my head to paper/screen. Why is this so tough some times? Shouldn't this get easier with practice? Or am I getting old and decrepit already?
Today I started my day with a doctor's appointment: I had my breasts squeezed and imaged for the annual mammogram. The technician and I talked about getting old, and she mentioned the film about Glen Campbell and his Alzheimer's disease. I told her that this is the thing I am most afraid of for my old age: getting senile and forgetting who people are, who I am, where I am. As I said above, I like my brain and the thoughts therein. All the words in my head, all my memories, all my cleverness, this is who I am.
If I should lose that, then who would I be?
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