Any septuagenarian can exercise the inalienable right to be subconsciously forgetful to the extent that recorded statements of views expressed years ago may not be remembered.
However, if there is anything anyone would deny is happening as one matures; it is the loss of hearing, the loss of memory and probably the loss of energy.
The loss of hearing plays a great part when the elderly listener who by happenstance has not been pensioned off, holds more meetings with his team than any other predecessor and still does not seem to end up with the substance of their ideas.
Note however, that due diligence is served by being in the meeting and presiding over that meeting.
A well known trait of the elderly when entering those stages of hearing loss might be grumpiness, irascibility, stubbornness, dogged determination and downright rudeness which in some other quarters can be utterly unacceptable.
The elderly by their wealth of experience gained through years of toil or service can offer us gems of wisdom and thoughts to ponder; some can quite imponderable that you end up in the unknown unknown.
That is a place that only too few people have been to, because they are the only ones who can reveal the existence of that place. They are the sages of our age.
The loss of memory presents convenience for those who cannot remember and frustration for those who can remember but cannot find correlation with the main proponent of the subject.
If no record can be found of the subject being addressed for the proponent to remember, then it one man’s word against another. We are left to decide on the ability of either to convince with conviction and hopefully, truthfully.
This era of mass media however offers the ability to record, replay, review, research, recall and reproduce whatever material has been subjected to scrutiny.
The loss of energy might inform the reason why a mechanical device might be required to do the routine task of signing letters that should be of great import to the recipients.
So, if at any time in the future after that recording; someone who remembers or who researches asks a question about a statement made in the past, the expected response should be concurrency.
Where there is no concurrency, the person being asked can defer to check the facts of that event and respond at a later time.
However, if the person being asked is generally given to bluster and falls into the demographic of the type of elderly person described earlier; then the person would not deny, rather suggest that something else was said or they have been misrepresented - conveniently.
The reporters of this current event can then search their archives and return with the recording of that earlier event which has concurrency with the questioner’s assertions, not once, not twice, but thrice.
I would then assume that the septuagenarian has been caught in a lie – Never! The old man is never ever wrong.
You ask me, “Could that particular septuagenarian be Donald Rumsfeld?” Well, Go Figure!
CNN.com - Hecklers interrupt Rumsfeld speech - May 4, 2006:
Rumsfeld Defends His Record Against Critics - New York Times:
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