short

I had it in mind to write something long today, but my time turns out to be short. Which sort of reminds me of what Hobbes thought of man's life (or at least man's life if not lived the Hobbesian way) - "nasty, brutish and short". Yes, I had to look this up, and it's from The Leviathan. I think there has to be a joke in there someplace. Was Hobbes, perhaps, nasty, brutish and short himself? Or could it be the name of a law firm? The Law Offices of Nasty, Brutish and Short. No? Ok, maybe not.

However. It may be true that as we age we become these things. Gravity pulls us down. Society grates on us. Desperation makes us unkind. Our faces, as we age, settle into the expressions we make most, and so many of us will spend our old age in a permanent scowl. Low to the ground. Frowning. Defensive. Ready to judge. How can we fight this the way we fight the settling of our bodies? What is the mental and emotional equivalent of running, or of stretching our arms to the sky and breathing deep?