Birthday Greetings

You're being watch (well, at least before supper or before the early bird special), by those senior "volunteers" in the DMV, or those in the neighborhood watch, or the Walmart greeters. They're agents for the AARP. They spot potential recruits and transmit vitals to the "service". Hence, as soon as you hit 50, there's that letter waiting for you to join the ranks. (I've been reading too much spy stuff lately).

Well ... (another advantage of hitting 50) ... think of all the discounts you're entitled to.

Anyway, today sa nytimes, column ni Timothy Egan ... writers who did their best in their older years. I guess athletes do need to be younger because of strength; but stuff that requires brain power, like writing, which you do, benefit from experience.

Look at Clint Eastwood. He never fails to mess up the bad guys -- at ANY age. Have you ever seen him get angry, lose his temper? Nope, yet, all the bad guys around him drop dead. I'm thinking High Plains Drifter -- and the clink/clank of his boots on that boardwalk. If you're a bad guy and you hear his boots and see him coming, you know you better not mess with "the Stranger" or "the Preacher". Anyway, that was when he was young, exuding strength & vigor. Understandably so.

Then, in Gran Torino (Clint in his late 70s), I'm thinking of the scene where he got out of that really old Ford pickup truck to aid the Hmong teenage girl being harassed by punks (or sa pinas, mga gomma). He told the punks, "Have you ever in your life met someone that you should never f. with?" (or something like that), he pulls out a 45 caliber colt (maybe it was even a 1911 Springfield issue, the point is, who uses a 45 caliber colt this age; usually you'll see a beretta or a glock). I guess, Clint did age -- he didn't kill the bad guys in that movie -- he did put them out though.

Oh well, another thing that bodes well for me when I hit retirement age -- aside from the coveted AARP membership, early bird specials, discounts in everything, and if we still have money, Medicare -- is that the Peace Corps has a program for retirees. I've always wanted to serve in the Peace Corps ever since I met a lot of Peace Corps folks in grad school (very good people indeed).

Have fun, brod, and I know you will not go gentle into that good night.