[lit-ideas] Re: Superman Returns
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 20:27:15 +0100
LH>But you can't know that you won't joke about dementia when
LH>you get as old as I because you aren't that old yet.
I can't know I won't turn ageist as I get older, but I doubt it.
LH>You are merely in the category of the non-soldier,
LH>non-mortician, and non-old.
My mother was in the category of "the old"
LH>And now that I think about it, surely it is healthier to joke
LH>about an imagined threat than to fear it.
This is not a "than", laughter is -- in cases like this - a way
of coping with fear.
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:13 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Superman Returns
But you can't know that you won't joke about dementia when you get as old as
I because you aren't that old yet. You are merely in the category of the
non-soldier, non-mortician, and non-old.
My mother died of dementia as well. I know a number of people who "fear it,"
but they nevertheless joke about it, e.g., their "senior moments." And now
that I think about it, surely it is healthier to joke about an imagined threat
than to fear it. In some cases fear and worry can bring about, as a
self-fulfilled prophecy, the thing worried about and feared - at least I
encountered that argument while studying Mark Twain in my youth, esp Roughing
It.
Lawrence
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