TheBanyanTree: Survival of the fittest

[NancyIee at aol.com]

> I want my body to go first, and I think it's
> well on its way. Even so,  I want to hang around for a while - as long  as
> I can  work crossword puzzles and connect with my friends and relatives. As
> for being a physically fit aged person, well, I'll take that.  A sound mind
> in a wreck of a body is no fun either.
> 
How well I can relate to that, Cecil.  It's a real ponder, if one has any say 
so in the matter, that is: would one want a healthy body or a sound mind, the 
other going kaput.
My good friend, a young woman os a "certain middle age" fought in 'Nam with 
the Marines, yes she did, got two college degrees and worked as a social 
worker, drug rehab counselor, once danced at the Copa, as a show girl, eons ago, and 
is quick and bright and a commanding sort.  However, her body is slowly 
giving out. (I personally think Agent Orange has something to do with all that, 
since non of her problems arose until she got back and out of the service.)

Everything that can happen to a body has happened: heart attacks, heart 
surgery, three cancer surgeries, diabetes, asthma, migraines, arthritis. Yet, there 
is no stronger spiritual, determined, funny woman than she.

So, I don't know what I would rather have, a mind and inner strength like 
hers with a body that will need serious looking after in time to come, or a body 
like a young bull, with the mind of a politician.

NancyLee