Buying Time

     As an evaluation of my mental acuity, and, resultantly, as an exercise in humility, I regularly read Conservative Columnist George Will's Commentary, as syndicated  in the Troy Record. His writing is erudite, reminiscent of the essays and papers of my college years, where the assignments were to write in-depth and lengthy analyses of the works of distinguished writers of past and present. Suffering through the intricacies of their use of the English language, I would wonder why, if they wanted to be understood, they would not couch their thoughts and opinions in understandable language, simpler terminology. My hard-learned conclusion  was that these writers were directing their thoughts and experiences to a literate and educated audience, not to the uneducated, who were not readers of sophisticated tracts.  Ergo, that was part of out education, to be able to plumb the depths of greater minds.

    I assume the commentaries of George Will fall in that category. He does not write for instant popular consumption. I find it a mental exercise to grasp his meanings, made even more challenging by his historical references to people and events that are not in my recollections. But every once in a while, I am able to tease out a memorable and germane tale. Here is one:

        A king tells a convict, "I will sentence you to death, but not until two years pass, and then not if you teach my horse to talk."  The convict was pleased. When asked why, he said that in two years,  "I might die naturally, or the king might die---or the horse might talk."

   Simplistic analysis of above tale:  If, facing your future,  you want to do nothing, or opt to defer action, I guess you have about a two out of three chance that  you have thought it through.  (Or something like that...