Notes From A Bear's Journey

Image: Semnic/Shutterstock       We seem to live in a world of numbers, a world of statistics and counts.  One example was the LRB report on the recent climate summit, COP26 .  Such events draw dignitaries and government spokespeople, similar to economic meetings such as the G7 and G20 summits.  So I figured if you added a few hundred countries plus, their delegates or whatever. (not counting security), you may reach a number shy of 5-7,000, or that would have been my guess.  I was wrong.  Here's how reporter Jenny Turner described it: The​ COPs are by far the biggest meetings in the UN system, and COP26 really was enormous, with nearly forty thousand delegates registered by the UNFCCC.  From the outside, it’s a sealed campus made up from three events venues --the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, the Ovo Hydro and the Armadillo-- linked together, with a temporary structure built over the car park as big again as all thr...

     The polite term is cognitive decline; but most people know that we're just slapping a coat of paint on naming this blatant form of losing our minds, in a sense.  Alzheimers, dementia, memory loss, however you describe it, most of us will know immediately what you're describing without the specifics.  Wrote AARP : By 2030, 8.5 million older Americans are projected to have Alzheimer’s.  A half-million of us will develop it this year.  Once it begins, there's no way to halt it.  As brain cells die, connections between them wither and the brain itself shrinks, memory worsens, thinking skills decline and navigating everyday life becomes less and less possible.  At least a third of people with early-stage Alzheimer’s slip into a more severe stage in about three years.  But with all of that being said, the article added: A surprising and mysterious trend has arisen in recent years that may help point us toward a cure for dementia.  Ra...

   If there's one theme in the past few postings, it's likely one of independence as one ages.  Being suddenly (or slowly) disabled from an accident or a sudden infection is alone life altering; but it is the aging process that more generally shifts one's attitudes from feeling immortal and having to accomplish or acquire much, to that of reflection and, in a sense, living life despite the shortened time.    Atul Gawande's recent book , Being Mortal (mentioned in the last posting), captures this well, at one point describing what many (or any) of us would feel:  All we ask is to be allowed to remain the writers of our own story.  That story is ever changing.  Over the course of our lives we may encounter unimaginable difficulties.  Our concerns and desires may shift.  But whatever happens, we want to  retain the freedom to shape our lives in ways consistent with our character and loyalties.  This is why the betrayals of bo...