Health

I had an older cousin, unfortunately he passed away last year, who was a fantastic brain. I loved him very much and regardless of the distance, he lived in Hungary, we were very close. He was afraid of flying. He wouldn't have flied if his life had depended on it. Because of that hw gave up many travel opportunities.

His favorite saying was, when they build a bridge over the Bering Strait, from Russia to Alaska, he would come to the US by bus.

Anyway the last stop in his legal career was the Hungarian Constitutional Court. This is similar to our Supreme Court. When he was elected I congratulated him and told him that now he had a lifetime position. He informed me that in Hungary there were no lifetime appointments, at age 70 there was a mandatory retirement from the court.

In discussing this he said he was against lifetime position because at an advanced age the person is developing all kinds of health problems and that makes it very difficult to concentrate on important issues. Now that I have to look back at 70 with a pair of binoculars I kind of agree with him. Some Supreme Court justices hung on to their jobs until the very end. They were ill, they were in and out of hospitals yet, refused to resign.

I am not too bad off, outside of some minor problems, but I can not see myself sitting at a desk 8-10 hours a day or listening and concentrating on very important issues on a daily basis. I know that work keeps a person going but it seems to me that sticking to the job is very selfish.

Maybe in a private professional practice a person can keep going where the hours are not that strict and the workload can be chosen but in a job of national importance not resigning seems to me is a very selfish thing. 

I am sure it is not the money that keeps them going.