Deciding not to do things

Montaigne, on turning 50, said he’d decided we would never again run.

My friend Melvyn, a distinguished physician and world traveler, said — on reaching 85, I think — that he had decided he would no longer travel.

I find both decisions astonishing. A favorite author and close friend decided, on reaching a certain age, that they would no longer do things that are just part of being human. Or so it seems to me.

But on the day I retired, I decided I would do no more public speaking.

But of course that’s different. Isn't it?