You Are Old, Father William
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You Are Old, Father William
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Re: You Are Old, Father William
#2It's odd that the article didn't just reproduce the (short) poem. Was he worried about being sued for copyright on an 1865 work? And why not at least link directly to the poem rather than giving an affiliate Amazon link?
In any case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_Old,_Father_William
"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."
"You are old," said the youth, "As I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?"
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling a box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?"
"You are old," said the youth, "And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."
"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?"
"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#3> Where are the lists of “Hot New Writers Over 70”?
Because most people who want to write will have done so before 70, and a large chunk of them just want to watch TV (or rather, have nothing better to do in their minds, which is sad).
> Why do so few of the expensive, risible fashion ads in the New York Times Magazine and its equivalent at the Wall Street Journal feature oldsters?
I don’t think this is true for many luxury items? Watches, alcohol, cars, and boner pills all associate with ads of refined older men in my mind. Especially in print media.
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#4I mean, excuse me for wanting to dismantle social security because I’ll never see a dime from it.
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#5I mean, excuse me for wanting to dismantle social security because I’ll never see a dime from it.
You realize that this is why you wont see a dime from it, right? Because you think you shoild dismantle it? There is no other problem with social security other than people who want to kill it. Its funded by a fucking payroll tax. It isn't going anywhere.
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#6> Where are the lists of “Hot New Writers Over 70”? Because most people who want to write will have done so before 70, and a large chunk of them just want to watch TV (or rather, have nothing better to do in their minds, which is sad). > Why do so few of the expensive, risible fashion ads in the New York Times Magazine and its equivalent at the Wall Street Journal feature oldsters? I don’t think this is true for many…
>Because most people who want to write will have done so before 70, and a large chunk of them just want to watch TV (or rather, have nothing better to do in their minds, which is sad).
Still doesn't answer the question. Just means those that do want to write over 70 are fewer (and they could be writing for decades before too, it's not about writing only after 70, but about becoming a new published writer after 70, or just a new celebrated book writer after 70 -even if you've published other books before too). Besides it's not the "after 70" category missing, where's the "after 40/50/60" lists?
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#7You don’t get to freely acknowledge counter-examples and then magically say they “prove the rule” as if they don’t contradict your argument. THAT’S NOT WHAT THAT MEANS.
And it’s quite all right for me to respect the elderly in general while acknowledging the baby boomers didn’t heed environmental collapse, stole all they money from future generations, raised their cost of living/education while keeping their wages stagnant, and concentrated wealth while dismantling unions.
You don’t get to cry “respect the elderly!” as a response to say, getting a parking ticket. It’s not a valid response to criticism of your generation either.
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#8I mean, excuse me for wanting to dismantle social security because I’ll never see a dime from it.
That's exactly why we can't have nice things...
How about improving it instead of dismantling it?
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#9I mean, excuse me for wanting to dismantle social security because I’ll never see a dime from it.
You realize that this is why you wont see a dime from it, right? Because you think you shoild dismantle it? There is no other problem with social security other than people who want to kill it. Its funded by a fucking payroll tax. It isn't going anywhere.
See also: the post office
Re: You Are Old, Father William
#10I mean, excuse me for wanting to dismantle social security because I’ll never see a dime from it.
You realize that this is why you wont see a dime from it, right? Because you think you shoild dismantle it? There is no other problem with social security other than people who want to kill it. Its funded by a fucking payroll tax. It isn't going anywhere.
For better or worse, our economy is based on utter selfishness.