I live in a small community in the Pacific Northwest. It is a lovely area and really easy to go for a nice walk. I often would walk over to visit one of my sisters who lives in the same community, or walk to the local grocery store, or take our dog for a walk.
Occasionally, on one of my walks, I would run into this fellow who also lived in our community, and was also out on a walk. We are all different from one another, but for many people, when passing someone on the street, it is common to say hi, or even just smile (at least that was the case before cellphones were invented, but that’s a story for another time). Anyway, this really friendly guy always wanted to stop and chat with almost everyone he encountered. I did that just about every time I ran into him.
There was something a little different about him that I couldn’t quite figure out. He always had a sheet of paper with him, which I eventually realized was a street map.
One day I ran into him, and he frantically asked me to show him where we were on his map. He wasn’t his usual super friendly self. He was really worried and upset. I pointed out where we were and then asked him where he wanted to go. I showed him the route on the map, and also pointed to which street he should follow, and gave him a few extra instructions about how to get to his destination.
That may have been the last time I ever saw him. Now I realize that he had some sort of cognitive problem. And over the time that I knew him, his ability to think the way most of us think was deteriorating.
As I have mentioned in some of my other articles, I studied physiological psychology in college for a time. That is, brain anatomy and function. It is astounding to me that an incomprehensibly complicated tangle of neurons produces me.
So now we get to what inspired me to write this article. Over the last several years, I have been experiencing my own cognitive difficulties. And these issues are getting worse. Well, I guess the good news is that I still have the wherewithal to write this article. And I’m trying to be a Really Friendly Guy.
