28,333 days into my life span I have been experiencing some turbulence.

I suppose it’s my silver hair, eg, suddenly people regularly offer me their subway seats.

Then last week I was walking to my car after a Gotham breakfast meeting and I saw two gardners making a deafening racket with leaf blowers.  As I got closer, I thought someone had cried out to me and looked around to no avail.  I walked on and distinctly heard someone screaming “Help, help me!”  I looked in the direction of the screams and came upon a hefty old man laying on the ground akimbo with his walker askew next to him.  I reached down to him to help him up and he shocked me by screaming even louder “No, you’re too old!”

I quickly recovered and recruited the 2 gardners and Gothamite Roger Kahn (pictured) to help me derrick him to his feet and help him to his car.  As he left I yelled “You’re welcome” in his direction despite his never thanking us.

Later, I related the experience to my wife Joanne and she reasoned that he may have thought that I was too old and frail to lift him and as it took 4 of us to do so he was probably right, but in my turbulent vintage it’s hard to get over the initial shock of his words.

It’s getting tougher being Forever Young!