BronxRoots-L Archives

From: Mike <>
Subject: Five Extra Years? :-)
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 09:06:43 -0500

April 23, 2003
NEW YORK TIMES
Given Five Extra Years to Live, New Yorkers Look for the
Catch

By MICHAEL BRICK

Let's play a game.

Because a dim light warmed us yesterday, and we could go outdoors
without a jacket, and because
we are younger than we were last week, let's play.

The city told us we have time. Compared with New Yorkers just one decade
ago, we have 6.8 more
years if we are boys and 3.2 more years if we are girls, the Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene
said this week in a study of life expectancy rates.

So call it five years, and let's pretend we can follow our whims. It is
found time. It is not the free time
that money can buy, or the five years the doctor gives someone with an
unspeakable disease. Just
extra time. Let's decide what to do with it.

This being New York, though, an examination of this sudden temporal
windfall is expected. It all
sounds a little suspicious.

"What am I, old, though?" asked Howard Grandison, who spent part of
yesterday afternoon lounging
on the concrete steps in Union Square. He wanted to clarify the specific
terms. He wanted to know
the rules of the game. It's only fair.

That point was amplified by Ralf Itzwerth, from Sydney, Australia, who
was visiting New York for the
first time, staring down from the observation deck of the Empire State
Building at the tiny-looking
people with the five extra years.

"Just living long doesn't mean that you're happy," Mr. Itzwerth said.
"You might limp through life on
one leg. You might live two years longer on your respirator with your
lung cancer."

This whole five-extra-years business will cause other problems, too,
said Sean Keenan, 32, a
firefighter, who was standing in front of a firehouse on West 37th
Street. "Try to collect Social
Security," Firefighter Keenan said. "I'm sure I'll be working."

Time out. This game cannot get started until New Yorkers accept that
they have five extra years, and
dream. Let's just think about five good years.

We could marry. Or divorce. We could spend it underwater (more about
that in a moment). We could
travel, or just while away the afternoon sitting on a fire-hose
connector on 17th Street clutching a
cigarette. That is what a man who gave his name as Bob Jones — and who
was kind enough to
mention that "Bob Jones" is also the name of a university, as if to
signal that he was giving a fake name
— was doing yesterday. He did not have trouble finding a reserve of
gratitude for five extra years.

"I'm going to tell you what I'm going to say: Thank God," said Bob
Jones, if that is his real name.
"What would I do with it? Keep on praying, keep on praying, keep on
praying. All right. I came a long
way."

Philip Chadwick, a graphic designer who was reading the newspaper in
Union Square, said: "When it's
time to go, it's time to go. But I don't think anyone would turn it
down."

But those are heavy thoughts. And that is not the point of this game.
With all the stress and worry and
fussing, it seems as if New Yorkers ought to be dying younger every day,
not having their life
expectancies extended. So let's play.

Lenny Speregen, 43, a commercial diver who lives in Brooklyn, bought a
glass of carrot juice in
Midtown yesterday, not so much because it might help him live longer but
because it might help him
see more clearly when he is down in the depths of the Hudson River.

You have five extra years, Mr. Speregen. Whatever will you do?
"Hopefully spend it underwater," Mr.
Speregen said, describing how when he's submerged, the only person he
worries about is whoever is
on the boat or shore monitoring his equipment.

"It's the most stress-free environment," he added.

You have five years, David Mark Patterson. Yesterday you were in Union
Square, where you read a
book. What will you do with your five extra years?

"I am going to spend five more years wandering the streets looking for
nuances and intricacies to turn
into tangible data —— " Mr. Patterson said. He was apparently starting a
joke, making fun of the
statisticians who tell New Yorkers how long they will live, but he was
interrupted, and implored to play
the game. "I would go around town doing guerrilla sculptures," he said.

Fine. And Bryan D. Johnson will relax. Coleen Bradley will write to
express herself artistically instead
of writing to please her bosses and make money. Ron Cohen will retire
and ride his mountain bike.
Sean Ross will drink heavily, unless he was kidding.

And Robert Presti, 38, the owner of Simply Natural, a juice and vitamin
supplement shop, will move
more slowly and deliberately. "With that extra five years, all the
stresses New Yorkers are under to do
things quickly, we'll be able to take it slow," Mr. Presti said. "At
least as slow as the rest of the country
takes it. It'll all come out in the wash eventually."

What game should we play next? We have some extra time left.

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• Five Extra Years? :-) by Mike <>