Slim Novel 17 - http://adventuresofkimi.blogspot.com - See Homepage
6. A Sunday Evening with Professor Edwardes
Eddie and Ryo usually spend Sunday evening with Professsor Edwardes and Yuko; Eddie because Edwardes is now past age 100, still hale and hearty, but How long can he go on? Eddie asks himself, adding I want to tap his wisdom before he ends. Ryo simply likes to be with her daughter.
The usual very old person is not wise. No matter how brilliant he or she may have been when younger, by the tenth decade, almost everyone's mind is slowing due to clogging of the brain arteries from a lifetime of poor eating that led to too many years of high cholesterol. But Edwardes is a rare bird . Because he has, since age 40, followed the advice of Physician's Notebooks: he has kept his weight so that body mass index is 18 to 19; he has taken Statin anti-cholesterol pills so that his blood tests LDL-cholesterol is c.50 and triglycerides c.40. And he has used his brain well - as teacher and chairman of a college department of sociology, and then writing his Overview of Sociology and then weekly Sunday Seminars. Finally and most importantly, Edwardes is that very rare, old person who, by retaining the total brainpower of youth, gains intelligence as he ages because he got experience to recognize errors and because he learned the correct directions his life should take.
The Mistakes of Life are not always clear at their start. Part of the mistakes involve new directions. Every life has directions. The earliest directions may be set by a parent; for one example, Eddie's dad's saying to Eddie, "You are going to become a doctor". Sometimes these parental orders lead to opposite directions; like Eddie initially reacting by saying "No I am not: I'll be a writer." As one's life progresses, a mistake may become evident. For example, Eddie put all his money in one foreign bank thinking this is the most secure and private place to protect a nest egg for old age. But - Lo! - he found he had made a mistake that now in the 21st century he has to suffer in old age. And his direction in life now got deflected. Until this time, using money meant little to him; he lived healthily and naturally frugal. But now in his 70's he finds it important to figure how to liberate his money to prevent a government getting hold of it.
He discusses this with Edwardes who says "As I look back over my years with clarity and without ego, first I will say that one must realize the fact that alternatives of action based on predicting a particular future have their own pitfalls. For example in your foreign bank's problem, the diversifying by using many banks instead of one or by buying property instead of keeping it all in cash might have weighed you down with worries and the need for frequent decisions that might have fostered terrible paranoia and aged you prematurely or gotten you into more trouble than your simple model of one one bank and cash only. Now, you are facing a single loss of privacy - your foreign bank is wanting to release your information to the your country's tax authority. But you have solved that problem by becoming expatriate and getting the longest lasting, non renewable passport. And if they finally get you - Well, with luck you might even be dead by then - ha! ha! ha!"
Eddie can't help chuckling himself, somewhat repeating a previous thought - It is win-win. I win if I live to 90 because I am enjoying my Physician's Notebook's healthy life greatly. But I also win if I happen to die by 90 because that will take all the worry and bother out of my very old age life.
Edwardes understands. He himself is thinking - Me too but in my case now the age is over 100.
End of Section. Next: 17.7 Seminar on Japan in the 21st Century
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