The end of an era

Having managed to not do much all morning, I decided to check emails and found I had got a message from my good friend Don, who lives in Thailand. He passed on the news that another friend, one I had rather lost touch with, had recently died. It rather threw me for a loop.
 
Ivan was one of the first people I met when I started work in Ottawa, way back in 1994. He worked in finances, and was lively and happy, full of beans. I sat at a computer just across the way from his cubicle, and used to pass the time making paper planes to bombard him with. It was a good office at FCM International in those days. There were a hell of a lot of good people around, a few of whom I am still in regular contact with. And Ivan was one those. We’d go out for drinks most weeks, would chat and basically enjoy each other’s company. And all that time – and in the odd moments we’d been in touch since – I don’t think I knew his age. He seemed ageless – one of those people who could have been 10 years younger than me, or 10 years older.
 
When Don told me today that he had died, I did a quick search online and found out he was only 59 – a year older than me and basically no age at all. He’d been working out in Sri Lanka, had visited Don and his wife, and then had gone “home” to New Brunswick in March. There, he’d been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and had passed away within the month. It was a strange feeling for me – made all the stranger by the fact that he had died and I hadn’t known. He was a good man, and the world is a worse place for his not being in it.
 
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Most of the news from the rest of the world didn’t feature Ivan, though. Much of it was about Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the US presidential race. I’m pretty sure he made the right decision, as once your party starts questioning you, you are screwed. He is too old – but he is only two years older than Trump. That would be the perfect attack, in my opinion. Sleepy Don, too old.
 
Having said that about Biden, you really have to question Democrats though. I mean, it would seem obvious that the objective is to stop Trump from winning an election. That would mean supporting the Democratic candidate, regardless of his age. Even if Biden were dead, he’d be a better candidate than Trump – and would talk more sense. But Democrats fixate on reasons and hand momentum to the Republicans. I saw a vox pop interview with a Democrat: the guy was practically wringing his hands, saying, “Oooh, I’m not sure Harris is electable”. Everybody is electable, FFS, Trump showed that. If that orange coprolite can be elected, anyone can. Shut up and get working to support your candidate.
 
On this evidence, Americans seem to deserve all they get: if we weren’t so close to them, it would be funny.