
 |
|
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 23, 2007
/ 4 Nissan 5767
Depressing Thought for the Day
By
Greg Crosby
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I woke up this morning with a rather depressing thought I am the oldest member of my family. With my mother's passing last year, all of that previous generation of family members is gone. My mother was the last of her siblings to die. My father and his siblings have been gone for decades. When you come to the realization that both of your parents are dead and all your aunts and uncles on both sides are dead, it is sobering and amazing. And more than a little scary.
Now to be completely honest, I must tell you that I do have a half-sister as well as several cousins who are a bit older than I, but contact with them is non-existent. The thing is, my generation within the family, the group that only yesterday were "the kids" are now the elders. Man, that was fast! Don't think that it happens in gradual increments, either, it doesn't work that way. You don't go from the youngest group to a middle group then to the oldest group, no,no. You jump from the youngest group to the oldest group in one fell swoop. No warnings, just one day there you are. Bam! Whippersnapper today, wizened geezer tomorrow.
There is any number of glib one-liners and wisecracks concerning aging. You know, like there are people older than I am, the problem is they're all dead. And nobody gets out of this thing alive we all get dead sooner or later. Growing old is not for sissies. We should try to grow old with class I just never figured I would get promoted to the head of the class this quickly. The one compensation about growing old is, all the things you couldn't have when you were young you no longer want. But how many old jokes can you do before they start to get … old?
The ironic thing about my particular generation of old fossils is, they never grew up to begin with. They worked at being forever young. Remember the slogan of the sixties, "don't trust anyone over 30?" My generation took that very seriously and that's why so many of us can't stand ourselves today. We just got too old for our slogan. We really should have picked one with a longer lasting message like, "don't trust anyone over 93" or something. Although personally, I must tell you those are the only people of whom I really do trust.
One annoying aspect of being the oldest in the family is that when something comes up from your past that you can't remember, there is no one around to ask. I was trying to remember the year and make of my first car the other day and wasn't sure if it was a 1949, '48, or '46 Chevy … or was it a Pontiac? My brother and sister were too young to really have taken notice of a thing like that and family members or friends who were older then, are no longer around now. So I'm on my own. And so far, I haven't been much help.
The business of walking into a room to get something and then once you get there, forgetting what it was you were looking for is common. Misplacing glasses and pens and keys and wallets are normal for everyone. The problem is, as you get older, the time you spend looking for these things takes up more and more of your day. This is a shame since you don't really have a lot of time left as it is and given a choice you'd probably rather spend your remaining time in a more productive way. But on the other hand, what else have you really got to do? As you get older, looking for your glasses could very well become your most important project of the week.
Sometimes, when having a conversation with someone, I will lose my train of thought or point of the story when the other person interrupts to comment. It becomes more important than ever, therefore, to get to the point of what I'm saying as quickly as possible before the other person gets a chance to chime in and throw me off. A social dilemma rears its ugly head. The choice becomes do I just keep talking faster and louder over the other person and get it all out, or shall I be polite, stop and listen to them, but then when they finish have to say, "I don't remember what the hell I was saying"?
A friend of ours actually came up with a worse memory experience than that. She made the observation that sometimes when she is alone, she will be thinking about something, but then become distracted by yet another thought, and then totally forgets what the original thought was that she was thinking about. In other words, interrupting herself with her own thoughts. Which, on top of everything else, to me sounds a little narcissistic. Confused? Perfect. Join the club.
I suppose when you get right down to it, nothing really changes. Listen, when I was 15 years old I spent a lot of my time wondering what year and make my first car would be and here I am still wondering. One thing I do know, it was a two-tone green four-door sedan with a torn headliner which is a lot more than I knew at 15. And if that isn't the wisdom that comes with old age, it'll have to do until the real thing comes along.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.
Greg Crosby Archives
© 2006, Greg Crosby
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|