‘Jean Charest devoted far too much time to reminding the audience that Pierre Poilievre skipped the debate.’ The Conservative leadership race, plus other letters to the editor for Aug. 5
: My father always said that old was 15 years older than one’s age. Every year I subscribe to that philosophy.Letter-writers have debated the desirability of a long life, with the undercurrent that more is better. It is a creeping sentiment: Just a little bit more, please. Ad infinitum.
We seldom stop to consider the consequences of living forever. What would our lives be like if no one has lost vigour except by violence? Population explosion and accumulation of genetic defects are just two of the obvious hazards. What if history’s charismatic malefactors remained active, potentially for centuries? Or, less dramatically, if all dark-triad individuals from previous interments still sowed strife today?
All things must pass. Death is nature’s way of making room for improvement. We don’t have to like it, but this engine of evolution has been moderately successful so far. Steve Jobs said it best: “Death is very likely the single best invention of life.”A letter-writer sets 75 as an appropriate lifespan to sustain the Earth, a five-year bonus from the “three score and ten” that my father quoted from the Bible.
Myself? At 72, and with the state of Canadian politics, I just want to live long enough to see how it all turns out.Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here:
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