Hope you and Carolyn are thriving and had a good Thanksgiving.
From Judy Newman, Toronto
Hi, Frank
I normally agree pretty wholeheartedly with what I read in your newsletter. In this case, not wholeheartedly.
Why does America always to have the “best (fill in the blank) in the world”? Why can’t you just have a fair, manageable health care system like most of the rest of the “developed” world? No offense but if America really was the “best in the world” then you would currently have universal health care and not be number 37!! Other countries would be looking at your system to see how it was done. Not currently the case.
At any given moment I can go to my family doctor, to a walk-in clinic, to the emergency department of my local hospital and access whatever level of medical care I require. I can have whatever tests, surgery or treatment is prescribed without ever seeing a bill. I can choose my doctors and am entitled to a second opinion. I cannot be dropped from the system because I become ill or because my condition is an expensive one to treat. As a citizen, I am entitled to this care and I am willing to subsidize this system for low income or unemployed people because I believe that every human being is entitled to the same care. I am lucky enough to belong to a generation of Canadians who have never had to consider whether or not to have an operation or a treatment because of the cost. What a gift. Most of us probably have no idea of what these visits cost and probably never will have. I am not suggesting that there aren’t waits in emergency rooms or waits to see certain specialists. However, if my situation is urgent, I will get care when I need it. Certainly a shorter wait than if I couldn’t afford to go at all. There are a few tests for which I have to pay, mostly specialized eye exams in my case that only occur every few years.
It doesn’t have to be the best in the world. It just has to be accessible, fair and equitable. Of course, I am Canadian and you know what we’re like.
You are a great advocate for all things good and I enjoy hearing from you. Good neighbors are a wonderful thing.
WHEN DID WE GET OLD?
by Frank Kaiser
Standing in a cafeteria line at my 45th college reunion, the woman from the class of ’58 asked of no one in particular, “When did I get old?”
Conversation stopped.
My first thought: Since I’m from the class of ’57, I must be older than old.
Geez!
Someone suggested that we got old the first time we received a senior citizen discount without asking. Another blamed it on AARP, declaring that its letter inviting membership was indistinguishable from a death knell. And you were only 50 then. Just a child.
From ruthie
Love this column….I just officially retired at 70 from teaching and I am a little apprehensive although tired of the routine of school, My husband who will be 75 this summer also decided to cash it in and we will be doing whatever!! We have always worked and are very young for our years, we look young, act young and feel young, (at least I do) what is next, he will still work a little and I will sub, but we have our health for now which we can’t take for granted, so many of our peers are ill or have become stagnant, this is not me, I hope….Look forward to your column, hope you are well, and I wish this column didn’t go to junk mail, I must change that asap…
SEX AFTER DEATH? HEAVEN FORBID!
by Frank Kaiser
As we slip and slide toward the inevitable, is there a senior among us who hasn’t pondered heaven? Everyone’s dying to get there. But haven’t you ever wondered about hot sex beyond those pearly gates.
Or the lack thereof.
Eternity is a long time to go without a good roll in the hay.
Questions abound. For those of us with husbands and wives who have passed on, do they meet us in that great white light demanding to know why we remarried after pledging eternal fidelity? And, when all’s said and done, which spouse do you end up with for that eternity?
From Mercedes Peralta
Well, if we are old enough, who cares about sex. It depends to the feeling of each person.
From Kathryn Giullaum
To be honest I never thought about sex after death. I’m more concerned before death, thank you very much.
From Betty Smith
Well, since we leave our earthly bodies behind as our souls ascend to heaven, there’s hardly any doubt that without a body there can be no sex. But the joy to be found in heaven will be so far beyond any ever found in sex, who cares if there is no sex in heaven. Merry Christmas to you and Carolyn.
From Bill Casey
Frank, For Christ sake, get off the sex subjects. You’re acting like some perverted old ass hole.
