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BODY AND SOUL
This is a philosophical essayette on the condition of mankind. A learned gentleman once remarked within my hearing that he would prefer to remain in control over his intellect in the final days before his body gave out. This assumes that the human condition is comprised of body and intellect. The learned gentleman to whom…
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A THOUGHT OR TWO ABOUT TOM SCANDLYN
Somewhere in this batch of essays, there is one called “Old Age is a Disease.” That was a tribute to Hana Davis’s mother and to Howard Davis’s mother-in-law. As I noted at the end of that essay, I never had the opportunity to meet the author of those lines about old age being a disease. …
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GEORGIA
I am dictating these lines on the afternoon of February 14, which of course is St. Valentine’s Day. The object of this essay is to pay tribute to a lovely woman who has been my friend for perhaps 30 years. This essay has nothing to do with the state of Georgia in this country or…
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EXPECTATIONS
As nearly everyone in my circle of society friends knows, I will be celebrating my 90th birthday early in August. In the last several months, my body has told me that I am not half the man that I used to be. I don’t look forward, for example, to long walks but rather, the shorter…
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TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME
It is common knowledge that as men grow older, their bodies perform less well. That is of course a fact of life. But medical science will not end until the ends of time are reversed. Men of 75 or so will act as though time had not done its work of deterioration on their bodies.…
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MY OWN LITTLE MAPLE TREE
In 1969, I was enjoying my life as a lobbyist in Washington for the great AT&T Company. As summer was about to turn into fall, the great AT&T Company decided that my talents were needed back in New York. Time was short as my two children were required to return to school. When I came…
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JOHN EAMONN THE EIGHTH
This week there is a ground-breaking aspect to this essay in that it is being dictated before breakfast. Of the nearly 700 essays that I have written, this is the first one to be dictated without anything in my stomach. More than anything else, this essay is to commemorate the birthday party that was given…
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OXYMORON
One of the most interesting features of the English language, or I suppose of many other languages as well, has to do with the term, oxymoron. The word is taken from the Greek words for sharp and dull. The definition is a figure of speech in which two incongruous or contradictory words exist side by…
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WHILE I AM HERE
This is a two part essay. In the beginning it refers to While I am Here. Finally, there is a comment about When I am Gone. Within a month my 90th birthday will occur. I do not look forward to it with a sense of exhilaration nor do I look forward to that event with…
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TOO SOON OLD…
For the past 12 or 15 years, I have been a friend of Gregorio Russo. Gregorio works in the produce department of the Whole Foods Market. In the former location of the Whole Foods Market, he was the first person who came into view as you entered the market. Now that market has moved to…