By reputation, old age is largely a time that brings many unwelcome ailments and disabilities. However, in a rare conversation with my gastroenterologist today, I discovered an advantage that can come with late late life.
She told me that I do not need to have a colonoscopy!
So there.
The following letter from Harvard Law School professor and former Solicitor General in a Republican administration Charles Fried appeared in the New York Times of September 14, 2012.
The text below was the entire letter!
“Mitt Romney’s response to the killings in Libya reminds us again of the wisdom of Napoleon’s warning that ‘the man who will say anything will do anything.’”
Too many things take too long. This may appear an odd complaint given the often bewildering pace of modern life; but it comes from the heart. And it applies to many forms of activity.
Take baseball, for example. Why should Red Sox games so often last four hours? I want them to end in two. Let’s go back to one pitcher per game. It beats the inevitable parade of single-inning (or single hitter) specialists. This kind of thing costs money and ruins sport.
Two weeks ago, I joined in the celebration of my friend Dan’s birthday.
A birthday might not normally rate a column. However, the carrot cake chosen for this occasion boasted three candles, marked one, zero, and zero.
Yes, my friend is now one hundred years old. I feel excited about his having reached the century mark, since he is the first of my close friends to do so.
The “I voted” sticker I wore on my chest yesterday made me a rare citizen. Hardly anyone else was to be seen at the school auditorium assigned to residents of my ward and precinct. Only a half dozen or so workers occupied the hall; outside that space sat a Cambridge policeman who looked on the verge of falling asleep.
A close friend tells me of his sister Ruth’s wedding. She is 85 years of age and, last weekend, she married Joan, her 56-year-old longtime woman friend. They live in New Haven, part of a state in which such matches are legal.
Was Hitler really dead? Did he actually commit suicide in the Berlin bunker constructed for his use?
How could the United States, with its British and French allies, ever bring about democracy in the Germany shattered by war? Would not the forces of the Soviet Union continue to disrupt their efforts?