Way To Go

I’m a writer. That means, or should mean, I have an imagination (“mental synthesis of new ideas from elements experienced separately”) and a way to put all those images into words which will make it from my mind to yours. If my luck holds.

Just today, I was chatting with an employee about life expectancy. I had run across an actuarial table which showed our odds at birth, as well as add-ons at different points during life. The older you get, the older you will get. This was in yesterday’s blog.

I mentioned that I’d like to go out in such a way that I’d make the front page of the New York Times. (Pardon me if I’ve written about this before; after 520-some entries, it’s hard to remember if you’ve repeated yourself.) Several scenarios have come to mind, but the most definite would be getting shot by a deranged Pope. I don’t know if that would end up “above the fold” or not, but I’m pretty sure it would be Page One.

I love astronomy; always have. There are a couple of asteroids in near-earth orbits and we’ve almost been nailed a couple of times in recent years. There’s going to be another close call pretty soon and it’s within the realm of possibility that the two of us might end up sharing the same piece of real estate. I’d like to be under that huge hunk of rock. Another front-pager in “The Old Gray Lady,” as the Times has been nicknamed.

Of course, there’s always the standby: Jesus comes on a big white horse, holding a huge flapping banner, in the middle of Times Square, picks me up and we go to glory.