July 27th 1986
As I'm writing this in 1986 I am 96 years old. It may seem strange, but I'm very comfortable in my nineties. I like the nineties. I don't seem to remember much about my eighties, but in the nineties I have a sense of achievement and a sense of leisure as well. I'm nit pushed as much as I was. (1. pg252)
I've kept up on my health over the years. With the exception of my failing eyesight, my commitment to eating a low cholesterol diet and staying on my feet has left me quite capable in my old age. They say that one of the worst things that can possibly happen is to lose your sight. That is not true. The worst thing that can happen is to die young. The second worst is to lose your mind. I'd much rather lose my sight than either life or mind. (1. pg254)
I've never run for office. I wouldn't be very good at it. If you run for office you stick your head in a noose. You give up free will. My father kept out of politics for the same reason, and I learned from him. You can wield just as much power with a newspaper. (1. pg248)
I've never believed much in religion. As a child, I had the habit of earnest and passionate prayer about my mother's condition. That went on for years, and the prayer was never answered. My mother died dreadfully with cancer anyway. I was in revolt against the secular idea of religion since that day. I do believe in the universe. I know too much about the Bible to believe that every word was written by God. But I'm completely convinced that whatever it is - maybe matter, maybe spirit - is all one. Therefore I call myself a monist.
On the other hand, I don't believe there is a soul. The soul is a fiction of mankind, because mankind hates the idea of death. It wants to think that something goes on after. I don't think it does, and I don't think we have souls. I think death is the end. A lot of people can't bear that idea, but I find it a little restful, really. I'm happy not to feel I'm going on. I don't really want to. I think this life has been plenty. It's just about all anybody could take, really. I'm cheerful about the feeling the end will come - let it come.
This may seem harsh, but actually it's an important part of a positive attitude and a sense of human fulfillment. I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary. (1. pg258)
1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990.
