Some things really improve with age | Letters to the editor
We can all agree: Wisdom, experience and competence generally increase with age.
How these attributes rise and what levels they attain can vary substantially from person to person. These attributes generally decline with advancing age, but the pace of decline can vary. It’s misleading to make generalizations.
The oldest person to win an Academy Award, filmmaker James Ivory, was 89. There actually were two, in different demanding creative categories; one for Best Adapted Screenplay and another for costume design. A 92-year-old composer was nominated for Original Score.
Warren Buffett, active at 93, is worth $134 billion, and it has been reported that 99% of his earnings occurred after age 65. (The average age of Fortune 500 CEOs is 59.)
Tom Brady won his last Super Bowl at age 44. The average age of NFL quarterbacks is 28.
“Infrastructure Week” was a running joke in the Trump years as repeated announcements yielded no results. Zero. Bupkis.
But the older President Biden succeeded with bipartisan passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
In 2024, voters will choose between the two oldest candidates ever to run for president. Both men have records as president. Voters can assess the wisdom, experience and competence of each and the likelihood of acceptable performance over the next four years.
Age is not a meaningful benchmark. Competence and fitness for office are.
David Feller, Boynton Beach
Rubio’s nonsense
How embarrassing it must be for Sen. Marco Rubio to have to grovel at the feet of Trump to stay in contention as a possible VP pick.
What incredible nonsense the senator spews, comparing Trump’s guilty verdict to a show trial in Cuba. This after Trump repeatedly mocked “Little Marco” in the past. I’d guess Rubio had to apologize to Trump for revealing that he had small hands.
By the way, has Rubio ever had the courage to criticize Trump for being a puppet of Putin, who supports Cuba?
Martin Kleinbart, Aventura
Verdict did not amaze
In her letter to the editor, Barbara Nightingale said she’s “amazed” that a jury pool with antipathy toward Donald Trump returned a guilty verdict. Was there ever any doubt?
If the jury had returned a not guilty verdict, New York City would still be raging with Democrat-stoked “protests.” Any juror who voted to acquit would be outed, targeted and doxxed. Don’t think they weren’t aware of that.
Sure, the system worked. Was the trial rigged? Nope. Was it fair? Not even a little bit.
Mark Hoffman, Pompano Beach
Remembering D-Day
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, I was a 14-year-old London girl.
In my schoolgirl’s Aeroplane Diary, I circled the date and wrote: “The allies have invaded France.” This diary, with more World War II entries, is one of my prized possessions.
The idea of Trump being elected makes me tremble.
If Trump were just a man in the street, he might have been arrested for trying to overturn the 2020 election. As for Jan. 6, a holy day on the Christian calendar (Epiphany), the uprising was to me reminiscent of Guy Fawkes’ attempt in the 1600s to blow up Parliament.
Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered. I’m not suggesting a similar punishment for Trump, but woe betide us if this criminal and his heinous cohorts win in November.
Myrna Gordon Skurnick, Boca Raton