A DU Allegory:

[PCIntern]

I had a family friend, we'll call him Paul. Paul was a very bright, successful architect, who lived a normal life in our neighborhood. Always quick-witted, well-spoken and charming, he lived a comfortable life with family and friends, although there were a few who didn't like him, that was chalked up to Paul's being, well, slightly contrary at times.


We began to notice that Paul occasionally would become very short-tempered, that he would snap at people for no obvious reason, and that he would then snap right back out of it moments later as though nothing happened. We chalked that up to stress and impending retirement issues. what's more, the quality of his voice and facial expressions changed remarkably - people who called for years did not recognize his voice on the phone, nor did they take kindly to his shortness of patience and paucity of speech. He had been friendly and garrulous all his life. Now he was becoming mean and nasty.

After about a year of this, Paul began making impulsive decisions: he would get up in the middle of dinner to looks something up or even to drive to the convenience store for milk for a grandchild who expressed a need during the meal, even though there were plenty of other fluids in the house for consumption. People chalked that up to his being needed and trying to please everyone since he had retired.

And then it got worse. Paul began driving to Atlantic City and losing thousands of dollars making bad bets at Craps, which he used to play methodically and carefully. He would do this without telling anyone and then be extremely angry when he was confronted by his wife or family members. He made many inappropriate decisions and lived to regret several which were life-changing.

And then one morning, he went after his wife with a kitchen knife. She escaped, the police were called, and the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was made within a week.

[PCIntern]

1. Self-kick for the PM crowd...

I thought this was pretty good...I guess no one else does.

Boo-hoo.