1012 Spring Renewal

1012  Spring Renewal

“I can’t die, I’m booked.” -- George Burns

He said that on turning 100.  He made it another 45 days and then, booked or not, he died.

Those not quite of the age where buying green bananas is an iffy proposition or the sight of flowers scares us still have to consider the future.

For example, do we renew our AARP membership for one year, or take advantage of some discounts in the fee for renewing for two or even three years.

When a five-year certificate of deposit matures, and the only interest rate approaching a whopping two percent is for a five year renewal... what do we do?  (It’s entirely possible these days that the bank will die before we do, but you never know.)

And what happens to those term life insurance policies we bought 50 years ago and which now have predeceased us?

We are the children of the parents of what Tom Brokaw calls “The Greatest Generation.”  And we are not getting the same kind of attention now given to the baby boomers.  Probably that’s good.  And it’s not something we’re going to have to worry about as long as they will.

Last time someone paid us heed, we were told we had a duty to die.  That was the idiot Governor Richard Lamm (D-Colorado) who this year will turn 77 and has yet to do his “duty.”  Guy should have gotten in touch with Dr. Kevorkian while he had the chance.  “Doctor, I have a problem, a permanent and debilitating disease, age.  Can you help me?”  No one ever saw Jack Kevorkian smile in public.  This might have changed that.

Eventually we're all going to go.  Life is, after all, temporary.  And with the onset of age we can expect changes.  AARP dues, CD terms and life insurance that expires before we do shouldn't have to be among them.


Shrapnel (Imbecile websites edition):

-- “Facebook” needs a “hate” button or at least a “dislike” button to go along with its “Like” button.   Clicking on this would send a message to the receiver. As with everything else with that site, you could “customize” what you send by checking one of a series of boxes: “your site sucks,”  “you are really annoying,” “get off my (virtual) lawn,” to cite some examples.

--You can customize “Google Drive” and “Google+.” The more you customize the more annoying the ads they send.  You can defeat this by logging out.  But then, you can’t use the features... which isn’t a half bad idea.

--And “Twitter” should get rid of the instant viral “retweet” selection.  If you have one or two people you’re following and they retweet everything that they see on the internet, you’ll have trouble finding the posts you DO want.

Note to readers:  John Wydra’s superb coverage of world events and his intelligent and perceptive commentary, linked on the right side of this page, has ceased publication.  His reasons are here.  Thanks, John for good reads. And any time you have something you want to say to Wessays readers, please send them along... your ideas always will have a welcome and a home here.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2012