Age: A Plus or Minus?

Dear editor,

Recently, I was traveling on a Sydney Harbour ferry, when three young people speaking German sat down in front of me. After a while, I spoke in German, asking them where in Germany they were from. Surprised at hearing German, they replied that they were from Hessen. We continued talking, and when they congratulated me on my unaccented German, I explained that I was a retired German teacher, and that my son lives there. But when I wanted to say where he lives, I stopped, unable to name his town or its state, both of which are, of course, very familiar to me. Eventually I was able to retrieve them, but I was embarrassed at not having the words on the tip of my tongue.

As we age, and our brains are overflowing with life's experiences, it's as hard to retrieve things to which we are emotionally attached, as it is to pull a folder out of an overfilled file drawer.

President Biden gets accused of being too old, due to his life-long speech impediment and his perceived lost memory of the year his son Beau died. But despite the fatigue he must suffer with all the overseas travel his job demands, Biden knows what he's doing, unlike the childish, brain-addled Trump, who just wants to end our democracy by playing dictator, and copying his mentor, Putin.

Kay Ziegahn,

Richland Center, WI