Ezra's Essays

Category: Age

  • PLEASE, GIVE ME A VOTE

    I suspect that everyone who has attained the Methuselah-like age of 80 may well have given thought to his or her own departure.  I don’t dwell on that subject but I am quite aware that it exists.  Again, I suspect that the dying part is not the major consideration.  It is the preliminaries of extended…

  • MIND AND BODY

    In writing this essay, I am speaking for a person born in 1918, one born in 1920, and myself, born in 1922.  So you see, there are no spring chickens among the three of us.  Not long ago, a question arose from the one born in 1920 of whether he would prefer to keep his…

  • MORE OF BITS AND PIECES, AND ODDS AND ENDS

    You will recall – or I hope you will recall – that these are bits that come from my notepad and that there is no connection from one subject to another.  So we continue with the spirit of bits and pieces, odds and ends.  The first thought has to do with the cicadas.  It might…

  • HE ALWAYS SHOOK MY HAND

    Eric Bogle is a prolific songwriter who started his life in Scotland in a town called Peebles.  At age 25, he took off for Australia and has long since become a citizen there. Bogle composed a song which is really a poem to recognize the existence of a love affair wherein the husband eventually died. …

  • GREEN BANANAS

    As everyone knows, I hope, I am a student of politics, particularly at the national level. For a time of about four years, I had the opportunity to be a lobbyist for AT&T in Washington. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to meet Senator Claude Pepper from Florida during that time. But as age…

  • CERUMEN

    This essay should properly be called, because of its shortness, an essayette.  Cerumen is a reasonably important health problem and I would not want the shortness of this essay to detract from its importance. If the truth were known, it would disclose that the proprietor of Ezra’s Essays is now prepared to throw its readers…

  • ABIDING CONCLUSIONS

    The title to this essay is a very practical one. The “abiding” part has to do with some thoughts that have remained in my brain for the better part of 80 years. The “conclusion” part has to do with these statements which allow no room for debate. And, finally, you will be surprised to know…

  • EXPIRATION BY DRIBS, DRABS AND OCCASIONAL DOLLOPS

    According to a book that has been in my possession for many years, there are 47 synonyms for the death of a person.  My purpose here is to add, as unpleasant as it may seem, a 48th definition for the end of life.  It will go by the grand and eloquent title of “Expiration by…

  • PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALLETH

    Those of you who are familiar with the literature of the Bible will recognize the title of this essay as a corruption of a verse from Proverbs.  Specifically the verse comes from Chapter 16, Verse 18.  That verse in its unexpurgated form holds that pride goes before a fall.  Because this essay is being dictated…

  • A REVISIT TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS

    Sven Lernevall is my long-time friend from Sweden.  From all appearances, Sven speaks the Swedish language with great proficiency. I will have to rely on expert witnesses whom I trust to testify to Sven’s use of the Swedish language.  Beyond that, Sven and his wife Ella speak an elegant brand of the English language.  On…