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Perspectives
Life is precious so don’t let it go to waste
As I near the end of my own life, it is natural that my thoughts should be filled with memories and that I should contemplate the things I have learned over the decades. We are born without experience and in the beginning we possess only our hardwired emotion-driven behaviors by means of which to navigate our early years. As we age, however, we have the opportunity to learn from our experiences and modify our behaviors.
This is, alas, an opportunity few people seem to embrace.
In our modern world in which we’ve made fashionable the worst-possible lifestyle choices, it’s hardly surprising that so many people grow old without ever growing up. Our entertainments promote modes of human behavior that are at best infantile and at worst toxic. Our laws encourage everyone to regard themselves as a victim. When society rewards those who whine like petulant infants, who would seek to behave in more adequate ways? There are no extrinsic rewards for becoming an adult and so, naturally, most people simply conflate wrinkles with wisdom — although nowadays, with so many being obese, wrinkles are becoming a thing of the past as skin stretched over bloated faces does not permit them to form.
Over the years I’ve developed a deep skepticism about human nature. History is a litany of…
