"Yes ...?"

I'm getting at this age where I don't know when I'm supposed to call someone "sir."

I go with the obvious -- you know, the old guy with the cane (and definitely not the police officer just because he's wearing a badge).

I'm not sure about the 45-year-old guy whose hair (whatever's left of it) is gray. He seems old to me, at least old enough to call him "sir." But then again, I'm only nine years younger than him.

And there's these times when I see a picture taken of me that I didn't know was taken. And I think to myself, "Wow, that looks like a guy who's getting old."

But it's me.

I've never been good about "Yes, sir." I've always done better with "Yes, ma'am."

The other day an old fellow -- he was definitely old -- held the door open for me. It was almost out of my mouth ... "Thanks, man."

But I thought about it and realized that it was never natural for me to respect the authority of an older man. Then I thought about I've always been a bit of a punk.

And then I thought about how it's not too late and that saying "Thank you, sir" would be a gesture that made me feel right with the world.

The thing is ... there's just not as many people as there once were in the world left for me to call "sir."