"A Variety of Disguises"

So, we thought we knew it all when, as clueless children, we would further our pretend play by deriding our parents and their colleagues, by exclaiming, "Those grownups, they don't know ANYTHING!!!"
Of course, we were right, at least as far as we could tell, adults were just watching life pass by and WE on the other hand, knew all the secrets only a child would know, even if we knew not the results and consequences of our thoughts & activities. Adults always assume they get wiser and wiser by the day until they get to old age and have forgotten everything except how to tie one's shoe; lest I be accused of ageism and so on and so forth, I hasten to add that the old phrase, "I'm having a senior moment," has crept into my vocabulary to the extent that yes, I know I set up a web-page BUT I DO NOT remember setting it up, which is sort of like fathering a child but not remembering who the mother is; or, "Yes, I remember yesterday like it was today, but I have no clue what happened since I got up out of bed this morning." And I DO NOT need a hearing aid, everyone just mumbles around me and I have no idea what you are saying, dear, I have shut off my hearing aid; who are all these strange people around me and what are their names... Yes, I do remember what I had for breakfast, I have a coffee and danish and orange juice every day of my life, thank you!!
All of this is to say that I now acknowledge to all and every, I have entered old age... only young old age of course. So, there are three stages of old age; beginning, middle and end. But no, please do not call me elderly, call me "Elder" if you wish; not "old," but rather, "Older." Not "Wise," but "Wisenheimer." Or, if you do not wish to call me anything, just don't call me, especially if it is 2:00 am and it's raining; if you are Bi-polar, please call me only 5 times a day, lest we miss the boat entirely and sit around trading sweet nothings of non-sequitars. Por jemple, "The trees are nice in the springtime and isn't it awful that the barbarians are at the city gates?" and I rejoinder say, "Yes, isn't Bill Gates really laughing all the way to the bank?"

So we get back to the basic problem of 'Plato's Cave.' We are chained to the wall and can see nothing but fading shadows on the wall in front of us, the sun blares out it's rays and we, not even knowing that there IS a sun, have been brainwashed by all the other rumors that say, "Look Mack, what you see is what you get. There's nothing else in all the universes except our wall and ourselves. Why knock yourself out trying to find anything beyond the empirical evidence that there is nothing beyond what we can see, feel, hear or taste. Get with it!! Work 9 to 5 like an ass or mule, don't worry 'bout nuttin' beyond yourself, Number One."
So, we are all such lackeys for the government or party or club or clan. 'What fools these mortals be!!' Can you not hear the dogs of society howl? Are you still gonna work on Maggie's farm no more, Mr. Bob Dylan, prince of poetry and Voice of a Generation.
So, let's get back to my original story, the allegory of Plato's Cave. The empiricists will rue the day they only saw with just the six senses, including the mind. How can you prove there is light beyond our purview? they will ask. Well, we will just have to prove it to you by your actually seeing 'The Truth.' " YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!" Of course, Jack Nichols was right, we cannot handle the truth unless it liberates us from the chains and shadows in Plato's Cave, ie, "The Truth Shall Set You Free!!" And, "There is nothing done in the darkness that will not be shown in the light of day." Amen to THAT, Bro" "And the best lack all conviction and the worst grow passionately more intense." (W.B. Yeats)

Nb. Please do not hold this person, 'Bruce' responsible for what is written here, for I am Bruce's 'Evil Twin,' his chief nemesis and mortal enemy. Bruce is not who you think he is, nor shall he ever be, OK??