Aging something that faces all of us but a reality that few think of when they are young. At the risk of stating the obvious it is an inevitable process that no-one escapes. Those of you who know me personally will know that I have had grey hair, a marker of advancing years, for a very long time starting in my thirties. My age, in addition to the grey hair, chronologically places me at the upper end of the spectrum of life expectancy for male South Africans. In January this year I needed readmission to hospital for the repair of an incisional hernia, a consequence of my previous admission to…
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Hallelujah! … a reflection on ageing, idealism and health
My love of the music of Leonard Cohen, a music muse of my earlier years, was reawakened after watching the 2022 movie Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song. Leonard Cohen is best known for his 1984 song, Hallelujah, that has had a renaissance among many artists during the last two decades. As a write this, I have Cohen’s silky and evocative voice playing in the background. Leonard Cohen struggled for periods of his life with depression but described his last years as having had a weight lifted off his shoulders that lead to renewed artistic creativity and a successful return to performing in the decade before his death at 79.…