Senility Progression

I’ve always thought of a one-track-minded person as someone that thinks about one topic almost to the exclusivity of all others.  You ask that person a simple, “What have you been up to”, and you will likely get a response of, “I was fishing yesterday.”  If you ask that person, “What time is it?” you will likely get an answer of “I think it’s about time to go fishing,” etc.  In other words the person has a one track mind, and a fish is on the track instead of a train.

A relative of the one-track-mind must be senility.  When a senile person, no matter to what degree, can’t remember why he/she went to a different room it’s because something distracted their one-thought mind.  The person went from the living room to the kitchen to get a drink of water, but passing by the table noticed a dirty dish remaining from an earlier meal.  He/she stops, picks up the dish, rinses it off, and places it in the sink.  He/she then wonders why they entered the room in the first place?  It’s because the one-thought mind loses its connection to the original thought as soon as a second thought enters.

It’s not the same as basically having only one thought for an entire lifetime, but rather that only one thought can be entertained at any one time. As many humans age their brain electrical impulses apparently don’t mate with the brain receptors to register a thought.  Thus when a second thought takes the place of the first one, that first one disappears.  I sometimes liken it to having a brain full of thoughts already, and no place to put new ones.