I once, not too long ago, was day-dreaming, half asleep in bed, when a female voice told me "And you will be 64."

I decided to not tell my partner, but then three days later, he woke up from a dream in which a women told him "And you will be 67."

He had the better answer: "We'll see." We are not there yet. I like that defiance.

But when I'm 64, my partner will be 67, and that is about two and a half years from now, so your question, Michael, is quite interesting.

Most people die alone, so if that is not the case as this appears to be the case (let me color the story some), then something cataclysmic can indeed happen.

Will it be an airplane ride that came down with my partner and me in it? A car crash? Or Kim Yong-un dropping his bomb on us (and 100,000 people more)?

Personally, I hope it is just the individual me and not even my partner. But most certainly I hope it is not a madman scenario in which a Putin or an Ayatollah starts WW III. Men are so predictably dumb, particularly those driven by power or by science, thinking to know all there is to know, the truth always on their sides.

You are right, the young have more to lose than the elderly and the population pyramid shows us that the decline through the ages starts at about 55 years of age already. Then, the pyramid gets thinner and thinner. The elderly are lucky already.

What to do if we all had just two more years to live?

My answer: Let's see if there isn't anything we can do about that. I like my partner's answer because we are not there yet. Nothing is set in stone except for stone, so the turning world may get spun differently if we make the conversation go in the right direction.

-We can save the world from the mad scientist deciding to detonate that bomb that keeps on detonating until all is gone.

-We can educate folks that a planet can indeed explode. A nova, for instance, is said to be the result of a star in its death throws. But there is not enough data to exclude smart life on a little planet around that star pushing a button they should not have pushed, exploding the planet and the star system.

-We can change our lousy forms of democracy and turn them into the same kind of democracy the happiest nations on the planet have (no, not us, the Scandinavians figured out how to use Thomas Jefferson's voting system best).

Or perhaps it was just Putin, Jong-un, and the Ayatollah deciding that the planet is not worth saving unless they have it their ways?

It is such a sad scenario. Why do we have all these Hitlers all the time?

We can try to educate their population that they are ruled by madmen. That should be easy because they are mad for sure. My Korean is not that good, though.

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I am not enamored with your conclusions, Michael. It sounds like you have made up your mind about people. Perhaps you can change your behavior and improve the world that way?

I remember reading an article about a grumpy man who realized the world was a lot more pleasant than he thought it was when he changed his behavior toward other folks, came down from his high seat. No, the story was not about me, but when older, there is indeed a good chance to have taken oneself down a notch or two just because the juvenile individual I once was was not as smart as I thought I was. We all need to look in the mirror if we want others to look in the mirror, right?

Wonderful that you want to stay home. That means you have a good place worthy of rescuing.

I believe you have two years left to save the planet. Looking over your words, I can see that you think it is worth it. So, what are you waiting for? Get started on your additional questions : - ) I think you can do it.