Eleven or twelve.

"When I was young, my old man was lame and stupid. But when I grew up, I was amazed at how much smarter he got."

Don't remember who said that, but it's very true.

Of course there is a sense in which all humans are limited and vapid and self-absorbed and foolish. Since I was raised in Christian fundamentalism, I actually thought for a long time that it was way worse than that -- that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" -- but I did believe that one was magically in the right if you were "right with god" and "trusted him". So I lived with this weird dichotomy of thinking I was totally clued in and everyone who didn't believe exactly as I did was deceived and evil.

Now I just realize that most people mean well and try their best to do well, given half a chance, but are often wrong anyway. Just like me.

I thought most adults were idiots when I was a smartass teenager in the 1980s. I even called them adolts on occasion. Then that wore off as I matured up until shortly after I signed on to Facebook for the first time somewhere around 2008.

I remember thinking that when I was a baby, about 18 months old..before I could even talk. I decided my parents were idiots for the religious things they claimed. I would look at them and think that they were just repeating something their parents told them, and didn't even believe it themselves.

I never thought that at any time when I was growing up, but just recently I’ve come to realise that there are certainly more idiots around than I realised....Brexit, Trump, Climate and Holocaust deniers, Flat Earthers, Anti-Vaccers....need I go on!

I clarify, as we grow up from infancy we tend to rely upon others to guide and protect us from ourselves. Stop the baby from crawling off the counter. Stay away from the cliff. Don't talk to them they are bad. Only vote for "blah blah", when you are older only buy "blah blah" brand because everything else is crap.

But, if you are lucky you'll learn to be critical of what people tell you. You will begin to question if what they are saying makes sense or if the effect is actually generated by the cause. You may start to realize that your peers lack self awareness to their own actions and certainly lack the wisdom to anticipate what "mighty" happen if they jump off that bridge.

From the age of 6 I realized that "group think" or "going with the herd" was wrong. I would question why something had to be done a certain way and or see the underlining reasoning and if it were flawed. From age 10 I started to realize that my peers and my teachers were lying or "just winging it" and had no idea how to solve life's problems. Let alone, how to explain why a principle or statement we were expected to take as face value came to be or was true or not.

This extended to close and extended family members, most of which are not very bright and would constantly refer to or rely upon "ism" to justify their behavior or belief system. This usually centered around religion as being "good" to people. While in the next breath stating judgmental or racist disparities to others whom where on in their immediate social circle.

Many to this day, still spout "wise" sayings on how to live, who to associate with, and which Sportsball or political color to support. And yet, all this wisdom and "know it all" opinion they spout does not seem to have resulted in financial or economic success in their lives. It has not provided any sense of stability or well being that could be considered stable, secure, or well off.

Many tend to do the exact opposite of what they espouse to others and partake in excess in cigarettes, alcohol, over eating with shortened life spans and an inability to pay for it.

hpocrisy, ignorance, greed, pride, stubborn, egocentric stupidity.

But every once and I while, you'd get a jewel. Someone with wisdom to share and who's guidance wasn't based on petty self interest.

But by and large most people I learned were idiots who are just winging it" most of the time.

Their comments and directions are more like "guidelines" than hard fast "rules".