I just woke up 60
Big Sur, CaliforniaNot 60 times or 60 degrees or 60 minutes…
60 years.
Not a long time if you’ve done it.
I know lots of people in their 60’s
We all grew up in the ‘60’s.
Many of us still haven’t grown up
Which is maybe why it’s disorienting, just a bit.
I had two years to prepare for this moment.
When I was 58 I miscounted, so I’ve been “almost 60” for a long time.
Now even that is behind me.
What is ahead of me?
Death, certainly. The obvious.
Probably not for 25 years, both my parents are in their ‘80’s.
I wouldn’t mind being an octogenarian like Mom,
Still sharp, working, in good enough health not to complain.
Don’t want to get old like my dad, slow and frustrated.
His genes have the edge in my body – based on physical appearance – but
I have the edge in being able to see into the future by looking at my dad.
He didn’t have that edge, his dad died at 59, and his older brother, too, at 59.
That was the family curse my dad broke just after his
Quadruple bypass operation
At 59. If truth be told, I’m a little relieved to edge past 59.
Except that means I’m 60.
The people I love, most of them, tell me I don’t look 60.
I sure as hell don’t feel 60 – whatever that means.
Plenty of great things have been done by people older than 60.
And I’m not poor or sick or homeless.
I think I could probably talk my way out of being poor or homeless.
I have learned something.
But, sick, I couldn’t talk my way out of. And that’s a problem.
I have this really healthy body that required no maintenance whatsoever
Till I was in my ’30’s. Then only a little exercise like walking.
Then by my late ‘40’s stuff started to go, first my stomach,
But there’s a pill for that,
Then my esophagus and a hernia, but there are simple surgeries for that.
My asthma has gotten worse, and there’s a steroid for that
(which recently added a warning that using this steroid can kill you, but don’t discontinue it).
God must have written that warning on one of his more ironic days.
The old BP and cholesterol are borderline, and
When they redrew the border, they
Gave me some more daily pills for that.
Evidently my prostate has as big an appetite as I do, and the pill for that
Stuffs up my sinuses, so staying on saw palmetto, a simple
Herb, fixes that for now.
Who knows what the next thing will be, but I rely on medical science’s weekly miracles.
Obesity, that’s the next thing that pills can’t cure.
Oh, the irony: an overworked epicure who can afford his tastes but
Dares no longer indulge them.
I hate exercise, don’t know why, but always did.
Wasn’t a problem in my 20’s.
Was kind of enjoyable in my 40’s.
Now it may be THE issue, so okay I’ve gotta do it.
I picture myself 61 and 30 pounds lighter and in pretty good shape.
There. Satisfied?
Oh, that’s the other big problem at 60 … too much to say.
Have you noticed how the lines have gotten longer the more I write?
I work on brevity, and it’s strictly enforced by my partner.
I’ll work harder.
On brevity.
I picture myself 61 and speaking
In sentence fragments
To applauding audiences of
Twenty-somethings.
So I’ve got that going for me: a rich fantasy life.
What lies ahead?
That’s what today is for, and tomorrow:
To figure that out. And, gimme a break,
I just woke up. 60.
Cheney’s Victory on “Meet the Press”
Sunday, September 10, 2006Russert: Mr. Vice President, I ask you again: What is victory? What is ‘staying the course’? What is winning?
Cheney: Tim, victory in Iraq will be a situation in which (1) there is a viable government, representative of the people of Iraq, elected under their constitution, and we’re part way there. It will be (2) an Iraq that is not a threat to the United States in terms of being a safe haven for terrorists. It will be (3) an Iraq where Al-Qaida has been pretty well eliminated, where, in fact, (4) the Iraqis are able to govern and deal with the difficult political situations obviously that exist inside Iraq, given their history. Those are all things that need to happen. But I think we’re well on our way to doing it….Saddam Hussein sits in jail today.
There. We have our victory metrics. Interestingly, the conditions described in Cheney’s victory metrics 2, 3 and 4 were status quo BEFORE we invaded Iraq. It was not a threat to the United States, according to the Conclusions section of the Senate Intelligence report just released Friday, September 8, 2006.
Al-Qaida was not operating there, despite Al Zarqawi having fled there after the invasion of Afghanistan. In fact, Saddam was no friend of Al-Qaida and recent reports suggest Al Zarqawi was being sought by Saddam’s security forces prior to the US invasion.
And the “difficult political situations” (the history of which the Bush Administration seemed to be unaware in planning for the post-invasion period) were under control by Saddam’s repression. The only thing that was not status quo BEFORE we invaded Iraq was “a viable government, representative of the people of Iraq.” It was a dictatorship, much like those that exist in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan today – though it does not seem likely that we will be invading those countries anytime soon, since they are our principal Arab partners in the War on Terror. Indeed, it is “governments, representative of the people” in Iran and Palestine (and likely soon in Lebanon) that are our principal foes in the Middle East. We have cleverly thrust Iraq into that club.
So Cheney’s No. 1 victory metric has been met (the only one not in place BEFORE the US invasion). But 2, 3 and 4 – which had been in effect BEFORE the invasion – are now reversed. One step forward, three steps back. Post-invasion Iraq is a haven for terrorists; Al-Qaida now has a firm foothold in Iraq, and the new Iraqi government is not effectively dealing with “the difficult political situations obviously that exist inside Iraq, given their history.”
Moreover, by the fumbling interventions of the Bush Administration on behalf of the American people, the region has been further destabilized. A Shia’a crescent running from Lebannon through Syria and Iraq and into Iran is rapidly firming, aided significantly by recent clubfooted military moves against Hezbollah, encouraged and supported by this Administration.
Our American military is literally stuck in Iraq hoping to stave off a full-out civil war. Stuck for probably ten more years, and unable to restrengthen or even recover for the next battle front in this War. Yes, it could get worse. We can not leave, just as we could not leave Viet Nam in the 1968 Tet Offensive. But, thanks to the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, and more thanks to the incompetent post-invasion non-plan, we Americans are no longer in control of our own military destiny. We have ceded control to that other incompetent government, the one in Baghdad: “When they stand up; we will stand down.” And our $300 Billion loss will likely become a $500 Billion loss by the end of the Bush-Cheney watch in 2009. A wholesale squandering of treasure and lives.
But, hey, Saddam sits in jail. Heckuva job, Mr. Vice President.
