It was one of those Monday mornings. . . I woke up to my alarm and thought what is that strange noise. Sometimes, weekends have that effect on me. In a daze, I dressed and headed to work. I was driving down the familiar route (of course, all this could have been avoided if I had biked to work). . . Suddenly, the car in the adjacent lane turned into my lane and hit my vehicle. Startled, I slowed down and parked the car on the side to figure out what just happened. The driver of the other car, an old man hobbled over to me. I was still dazed and didn't know what to do when he suggested that I call the police (duh).

Anyways, to make a long story short, it turned out that this old man, who was born in 1918 was driving his wife to the hospital. He didn't see me and was just trying to change lanes. The damage to my car isn't significant but it will still take about $2,500 to repair. The old man (reminded me of my grandfather) took full responsibility, apologized and patted me on the back.

I could not help but feel sorry for him. He was driving his wife (who for all I know may have been suffering from some sort of grave illness like cancer). Do old people in this country have much of an option? Social security is only sufficient to get by and when your body fails you, there is no one to lend a hand. If you have to support yourself 20-30 years after you retire, you had to have saved a fortune during your working life and spend it wisely (avoiding the numerous scam artists that prey on the elderly). With life expectency improving world-wide, it seems to me that longevity is over-rated and I'd rather not to overextend my time.