WELL, WHADDA YUH KNOW !

It is a fact that people tend to show more patience and tolerance towards physical decline rather than mental decline. This is probably because it is visible. If we have a coughing fit or start dribbling every five minutes, those in our presence patiently look the other way. If we keep falling over, they help us up or provide physical support. But if we go into the bathroom to look for a corkscrew they are neither amused nor sympathetic.

brain. But I have forgotten it, meaning I can’t retrieve it, and may never be able to do so in the future.

So, if somebody asks me a question, do I say “I can’t remember”

(meaning “I used to know”) or “I don’t know” (meaning “I never did know”)? If I can’t answer, then people will assume the latter ­ that I’m a blockhead.

After leaving school, as I ab ­ sorbed more and more information, I soon realised that many of us acquire knowledge in order to impress others by displaying it. A conversation can thus quickly turn into an ego­boosting pointsscoring exercise, the purpose of which is to make the ‘loser’ look ignorant. And it can be argued that, for this purpose, the inability to access the stored information leaves the ‘loser’ in the same position as never having acquired it in the first place.

As we age, we slow down physically and mentally. We command less respect and attention from others, especially strangers. And so, unless we have an exceptional energy, charisma or sense of humour, we can become patronised or even ignored.