My second career is going well and is slightly different from the first. That is, there are no deadlines and drop-dead schedules.
Following a couple of decades working as a journalist for some of the world's best-known news organizations, including the Associated Press Bureau Chief in NYC, I decided to retire a little early. Something I learned while being a slave to the news cycle, is of toxic stress is the archenemy of longevity. I’ve pivoted to projects like teaching communications and this blog that hopefully will add to my life rather than chip away at it.
The first time I heard the phrase The First Draft of History and The News-watch Never Stops... I did not truly grasp the true meaning.
Methuselah "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of Sword" was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He had the most extended lifespan of all those given in the Bible, dying at the age of 969.
According to the Book of Genesis, Methuselah was Enoch's son, Lamech's father, and Noah's grandfather. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicle and the Gospel of Luke.
His life is described in further detail in extra-biblical religious texts such as the Book of Enoch, Slavonic Enoch, and the Book of Moses. Bible commentators have offered various explanations as to why the Book of Genesis describes him as having died at such an advanced age; some believe that Methuselah's age is the result of a mistranslation, while others believe that his age is used to give the impression that part of Genesis takes place in a very distant past. Methuselah's name has become synonymous with longevity, and he has been portrayed and referenced in film, television, and music.
This information and the image above, are credited to Wikipedia of the painter from Spain Bartolomé Bermejo in 1480. Christ Leading the Patriarchs to Paradise. In this depiction of the Harrowing of Hell, Methuselah is portrayed as leading the procession of the righteous behind Jesus, along with Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, and his great-grandparents Adam and Eve.