For the editor:
Concerning “The overlooked truths about Biden’s age», by Frank Bruni (Opinion, March 30):
Mr Bruni is absolutely right to point out that the presidency is not the job of just one person. When we go to the polls in November, we will elect a general manager/captain/coach. His job is then to bring the team together and come up with a plan. This is the reason for our executive power.
The president needs the right people under him and around him. Joe Biden fairly quickly assembled a large cabinet and other advisors three and a half years ago. Seven and a half years ago, Donald Trump formed a band of complicit circus performers.
The country needs a team that will offer support as well as alternatives and criticism to the president and keep us all safe “from sea to sea.” Let’s not focus on the speed of Mr. Biden’s walk or the volume of his voice. We must stay focused on his mental health and his mental abilities, which are still functioning quite well.
Janis Delson
new York
For the editor:
Like President Biden, I will turn 82 this fall. As I imagine is true for both of us, the stairs became steeper, the newspaper smaller, the sleep more interrupted. And yes, we sometimes experience brief memory blocks as memory bubbles surface more slowly through the molasses of our brains. As old people, we understand the difference between forgetting a name and dementia.
Yet my profession – psychological science – documents that we octogenarians retain or develop three important strengths that, to put it Frank Bruni, “are becoming too strong.” little consideration”:
Crystallized intelligence. Our knowledge and our ability to apply it peaks later in life. Thus, many historians, philosophers and artists produce their most remarkable works at the end of their careers.
Wisdom. With maturity, people can better embrace multiple perspectives, demonstrate sagacity in the midst of conflict, and appreciate their fallibility. The wisdom of knowing when we know something and when we don’t comes from experience.
Emotional stability. Over the years, our feelings soften. With age, we find ourselves less often excited, but also less often depressed. Compliments produce less exaltation; criticism, less despair.
So yes, the president sometimes expresses himself poorly or forgets. But he will also benefit from the maturity that allows him to navigate the “battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses” (his words).
David G. Myers
Holland, Michigan.
The writer, a social psychologist at Hope College, is the author of “How We Know Ourselves: Curiosities and Wonders of the Human Mind.”
For the editor:
Our Constitution requires that a president be at least 35 years old. Given the advanced ages of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, coupled with widespread discontent on all sides of the political spectrum, now may be an ideal time to amend the Constitution.
If we require a minimum age, why not a maximum age, perhaps 75? Like many older voters, I appreciate the contributions of our generation, but it’s time to pass the torch.
Judith Bishop
new York
For the editor:
Frank Bruni is almost right to cite the positive presidential qualities of Joe Biden and the importance of the team around him to defend him against attacks based on his age. But the best summary I’ve heard so far is from an independent voter interviewed after voting in a primary, who said, “I’d rather vote for a guy with 81 years behind him than for a guy who has 91 criminal charges before him. him” (recently reduced to 88).
David Rubin
Canton, mass.
Invest in Ukraine
For the editor:
Concerning “President outlines possible conditions for aid to kyiv» (April 2 front page):
The U.S. Congress must understand that support for Ukraine is an investment in the freedom and independence of a sovereign nation invaded by Russia.
Investing now in Ukraine’s victory will avoid having to spend billions to counter the aggression of autocratic regimes in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, who will see their weakness and take steps to exploit it .
Ed Houlihan
Ridgewood, New Jersey
A worthy betrayal of the sons of García Márquez
For the editor:
Concerning “Gabriel García Márquez wanted his last novel destroyed», by Álvaro Santana-Acuña (guest essay, March 17):
At first, I quickly condemned the sons of Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1982. García Márquez died ten years ago and, against his will, Rodrigo and Gonzalo published “Until August”. For shame! What greed!
Still, I was influenced by Mr. Santana-Acuña’s excellent guest essay. He argues that “Until August” is “the raw work of an aging master” and “should be read as such.” He recalls that Franz Kafka ordered his friend Max Brod to burn his unfinished works – but Brod did not do so: “This treason changed the history of literature and the life of a young man who, after reading “The Metamorphosis”, decided to become a writer.
Indeed, as García Márquez says declared to the Paris Review, when he read that Gregor Samsa had awakened in the form of a gigantic insect, “I said to myself that I didn’t know that anyone was allowed to write such things. If I had known, I would have started writing a long time ago.
I recently borrowed “Until August” from the library. In the preface, Rodrigo and Gonzalo wonder if “the impairments” that prevented their father “from finishing the book also prevented him from realizing how good he was.” In an act of betrayal, we decided to put the enjoyment of our readers above all other considerations. If they are happy, it is possible that Gabo will forgive us. In this we have confidence.
For my part, I was delighted to hear the voice of the great writer again.
Carole Weston
Armonk, New York
Our gun culture and mass shootings
For the editor:
Concerning “Toxic Gun Culture Starts at Home,» by Elizabeth Spiers (guest essay, March 28):
Ms. Spiers writes about “how the Crumbleys’ attitudes and actions reflect an increasingly insidious gun culture that treats guns as instruments of defiance and rebellion rather than a means of last resort.”
She was referring to Ethan Crumbley, who shot and killed four students and injured seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021, as well as his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, who were separately convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the massacre committed by their then-aged son. 15 years old. The Crumbleys were the first parents in the United States to be directly charged in the death of a child in a mass school shooting.
As the father of two children who survived the Oxford High School shooting, I have reflected on this tragedy very often over the past two years, and I believe Ms. Spiers’ essay gets to the heart of a difficult truth about our nation’s relationship with guns.
It is clear that the Crumbleys could have taken simple steps to prevent this tragedy. It is true that legislation is important and will make a difference. However, the harsh reality is that until we understand these deeply ingrained aspects of gun culture in the suburbs and exurbs, where many of these mass shootings occur, we will unfortunately experience more of these tragedies.
George Stoffan
Oxford, Michigan.
