I have had blogs before. Some successful for a time; some not. I am going to try again. Today is November 16, 2022. I was born on November 26, 1942. That means that in ten days I will be 80 years old (as they say, God willing).

My first thought is that 80 is pretty old. Actuarial tables say that an 80 year old man in America will, on average, live another 7 years. That means that there is a 50% chance that I will not live 7 more years. That thought is sobering, although I remember when I was sure that I would probably die before I was 16, and that my ultimate goal was to reach the year 2000, when I would be 58. I never thought much about 80.

I know that it is important to keep active at 80, physically and mentally. OK, I will try to do that. I know it is important to eat well; I will try to do that as well. And to keep calm and carry on. I will try to do each of these things. I understand that, on some days, it will be difficult and that, on many days, I will probably fail.

Some people are older than I am. Take Joe Biden, for example. He was born on November 20, 1942, so he has outlived me by 6 days. I assume that he would agree with the paragraph immediately preceding this one. But he has to do it in a different context. While I am happily retired, he is president of the United States. Frankly, although my health has so far been good (I think better than Joe Biden’s has been historically), I cannot imagine being president of the United States at this time. It requires a certain amount of stamina, for one thing. I guess Joe Biden must have it. I don’t think I do. On some days, I am just tired, and don’t want to do anything. I am not sure that that is an option if you are president of the United States. Maybe be it is…..but probably it isn’t. And, as President of the United States, Joe Biden must deal with Republicans. I wouldn’t want to spend the last years of my life dealing with Republicans. And he must travel a lot. Today, for example, he is in Bali. Now I wouldn’t mind going to Bali, but I’d like to go for a couple of weeks, with the first two days dedicated to recovering from the trip and the time difference. The President of the United States does not have that luxury.

Now, I do try to keep fairly busy. You may already know this, but I, like Joe Biden, am a president, too. Just not of the United States. I am the president of the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington, Inc. And, like Joe Biden used to be, I am a vice-president as well. I am the vice-president of the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies, Inc. If you keep reading this blog, you will probably learn something about these organizations. Maybe.

You will also learn that I have a “company” that sells used books on line, books that I have collected over the years and continue to collect (for reasons unclear, except that I enjoy it. And that’s enough.).

Let me see. What else? I was born in St. Louis, but have lived in Washington DC for over 50 years. I have been married for 46 years. I have two daughters in their early 40s, and two grandchildren, 7 and 2. I used to be a lawyer.

I enjoy learning things, and I guess don’t mind too much when I forget things. Over the past few days, I have gone to two lectures, one by Burt Visotzky, who taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary (his topic related to relations between the three Abrahamic religions today), and the other by Noah Bickart, who teaches at John Carroll University (his topic related to a Talmudic phrase – translated as “lashes of fire” – and differing interpretations as to what it refers when it is used in the Talmud and later). And tonight, I am taking a Zoom class from Rabbi Alana Suskin on how Covid has changed Judaism – a surprisingly interesting class. We are half through.

But, the last book I have read is L.M. Nesbitt’s “Desert and Forest” [you see I don’t know how to underline text on WordPress], a story of Nesbitt’s 1928 journey on foot through a large chunk of eastern Ethiopia – he and two others being the first Europeans to make it through this journey (through rugged country with no roads or paths) alive. And now I am reading a novel “The Dream Life of Sukhanov” [I still have not learned how to underline in WordPress] by Russian emigre Olga Grushin. So, my interests vary.

My main forms of exercise are walking and using my stationary bicycle. I am nursing what I am pretty sure is a broken little toe, so the walking has been suspended for a while, but I go on the bicycle almost every day for 30-60 minutes. Usually I watch streaming series while I bike. I am now switching back and forth between three: “The Stranger” (Korean and hard for me to follow intelligently), “The Time it Takes” (French), and “Two Summers” (Belgian). My wife and, during the evenings, are watching Season 3 of “Deadwind” (Finnish).

Last night I watched Donald Trump declare his run for the 2024 presidency. He will be 78 when the election is held. 78 is pretty close to 80, you know. Age aside, one thing is very clear: I don’t like Donald Trump. Another equally clear: if Donald Trump knew me, he would not like me, either. So,I guess I should say that I do pay pretty close attention to politics and the news, not just to the age of presidents and former presidents.

Well, as time goes by (and, as they say “God willing” – you see that I don’t say this myself) we will talk about all these things and more. That is, when they seem interesting enough to talk about. We will talk about wars and famines and floods.

I will end with these thoughts. When I was born, the population of the world was about 2.3 billion. Today, it is about 8 billion. And on the fastest growing continent, Africa, the median age today is 18. 18 may, to a large extent, sound like 80. But in fact…it is very different.