As if one were some President of
the United States, it can be aw-
fully challenging to respect the
spectrum of incentives for aging
when protracted infancy beckons.
Now that all 20 of our centuries
have thrust us into our 20's, it
heartened me no end to find this
comparatively recent report from
the frontiers of great age, in a
note to the Editor of The Times,
London, from November 11, 2002 -
As you grow old, you lose interest
in sex, your friends drift away,
your children often ignore you.
There are many other advantages
of course, but these would seem
to me to be the outstanding ones.
Oh, "Give me antiquity or give me shame," must have been the vow that won the popular vote in the Continental Congress, losing only to that favoritism to the slave states which saw "Liberty or Death" carry the day in the Electoral College. Fortunately no choice so ironic has survived into the present era, not that anyone has had the temerity to propose retiring the slogan. It's telling, though, that sex and offspring remain the rage in the unpopular states, which doesn't mean they still insist on slavery, only that by their practices in family matters, one can't be so sure.
Matty Carrington
swing player
Mr Richard Needham
correspondent
John Julius Norwich
The Ultimate Christmas
Cracker
Julian Fellowes
editor
John Murray, 2019©
