A View Askew
(Or: Did the Dinosaurs See the Comet?)
Oct 2014 Issue
19
The Joys of Autumn!
Ah, the view
from Dear Leader’s palatial estate in leafy Bryn Mawr (Now imagine the mess in
a couple weeks – thank god for our new service economy and all the yard care guys it’s providing!)
Okay, you caught me
at moment of weakness.
No bitching,
no whining just enjoying this brief interlude. This really is a marvelous time
of the year with cool temperatures, beautiful trees, no bugs - and very few
people over running the golf courses! You
know there really is something to be said for the theater of seasons. It’s just
that one of them - you know which one I’m talking about - over stays its welcome.
(I will save my whining for each of the several next months!)
View Askew Changes
You
may have heard the phrase “events have overrun the plan.” Well, that’s kind of
what’s happened to me and View Askew. I was debating some changes due to the
comments (kind comments, private comments and smart comments) and my own poor work ethic. It seems that these beauties are starting to “contain too much
information.” At the same time, it has become a LOT of work. Ergo I was
thinking of shortening it up but maybe be more frequent. Well, now I really
don’t have much choice; UofP has asked me to teach another subject in addition
to Critical Thinking and it will be an almost continuous job (fortunately, one
I can still do in my pajamas – sorry for the visual!) In any event, that means
I really can’t spend as much time in large clumps as I have the past year.
Don’t
worry though (or do worry, if that’s your point of view) I will continue to
comment on stuff that strikes my fancy and you won’t have to spend nearly as
much time in my head all at once. That’s gotta be a good thing . . . right?
Mini Thoughts on the World
Albuquerque – More
Than Just Breaking Bad!
Please take
a couple minutes to view this youtube about the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon
Festival – it’ll make you want to try it! (or not)
Follow Up on Blue Jeans Blues
Lest you think I was being mean a spirited or elitist
with my rant about blue jeans and sneakers in the last View here’s some
confirmation. I would like to put myself in some good company in this regard
(and a much more eloquent spokesman for us elitists!) Take a look at this piece
from George F. Will – then take a look in the mirror, you know who you are! (I knew there were some
things George and thought about alike - Har de har har!)
And
Finally . . .
Cheesy Music Videos
I’m sorry but I just can’t help myself
finding old music videos of songs that have some particular memory attached. This
from the 80’s that I thought pretty clever for the times – leave it to those damn Norwegians! I defy you to not move some part of your body to this. (Great grammar too.)
Big Things That I Think About
Early Expiration Date?
You may have
seen or heard about this article Why I Want to Die at 75 It has caused a lot controversy in some
circles.
The Cliff’s Notes on this is that the good doctor lays out
his rationale that he (and most of us) should be content to live a little less
longer but with a higher quality life. I know, I know at first blush you go,
“75!? 75!, why, I’m just getting going then!” It is true that we are living
longer and more productive lives so what the heck is he talking about?
Well, when you read the article I think what he is saying
that, yes, we are living longer but a lot of that longer life is lived in a
state of decline and in many cases pain and misery (not to mention in Depends
and 12 pills a day.) In other words, living longer but not better after a
certain point – and he’s not in favor of it. I can vouch for this from my own
experience watching my mom and in laws go into the terminal decline in their
80’s but continue to hang around due to “marvels of modern medicine” for much
longer than they actually wanted to.
Anyway, I think he would agree that age 75 is pretty damn
arbitrary and especially if you were a healthy 74 year old! But I think he raises an issue that will not
go away. Like abortion and other tricky moral issues this is one of those
things that is pretty divisive – who can forget that great philosopher, Sarah
Palin, calling end of life counseling, “death panels?” (Counseling that we used
with my mom and she was happy to participate in – she said, “no tubes for me!”.) I also think, though, that we baby boomers,
as with everything else we’ve done, will really push this idea forward and not
just because we’re special and like to have our way (which we do.) Perhaps more
importantly, we understand that quality of life is just about as important as length
– period.
For example, recently in local fish wrap there was an
article about the best countries to grow old in. While it’s great to grow old
with grace and dignity isn’t it is also important to think about what that means? Best country to grow old in - what the hell does that mean?! (For the record Norway is the number one place to grow old. The US? Number eight.)So how old should we get? How much discomfort should we bear getting old? Who gets
to decide if I’m old enough? Finally, is it okay to drive the country into
bankruptcy trying keeping the millions of us alive through the efforts of the
healthcare industrial complex? I don’t know the answer but I think we better
come up with it soon.
Here’s what I know. One commentator said, we treat our pets
better at the end of life than we do our parents or ourselves. That’s something
to think about.
But I also know this, we have to be really careful in how we
deal with this and here’s why – be sure your kids see this! Monty Python Bring Out Your Dead
I’m not dead
yet!
New Songs
for Old Farts
My son sent
me this – great lyrics!
Thanks for
reading and if you think YOU’VE had a bad day think about this.
Be a good citizen of your world . . . ”
. . . and
don’t be a dope.
Quote Du Jour
"Any man who has
$10,000 left when he dies is a failure."
Errol Flynn
A View Askew is the sole property of D Roger Pederson, Mpls MN. You may forward without special permission but if you want to use anything here for your own purposes please send me a request at dpeders2002@gmail.com.
A View Askew
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