Thus, Régis Labeaume finds Denis Coderre’s wish to return to active politics sad, because “old slippers like us, we have to make that clear.”
Question no1: The problem with the “old slippers”, as the ex-mayor of Quebec calls them, is that they are old or that they are “slippers”?
Question no2: And the young slippers, what do we do with them? Should they “clear” the place too?
Because as Brassens sang: “Time doesn’t help matters / Whether we are twenty years old, whether we are grandfathers / Little idiots from the last downpour or old idiots from the snows of yesteryear / When you’re stupid, you’re stupid.”
It’s not the age of the liner that’s the problem, it’s the liner itself.
- Listen to the Martineau – Dutrizac meeting between Benoît Dutrizac and Richard Martineau via QUB :
LONG LIVE SLIPPERS!
That said, it depends on the time and the context.
Take Ernest Chausson.
Composer born in 1855 and died in 1899, Ernest Chausson was – according to the France Archives website – recognized for “the high aesthetics of his works”.
“The man, we are told, attracted and captivated by his righteousness, his generosity and his immense culture. The musician also doubled as a humanist with a big heart.”
In short, at the time, being a Chausson was something!
When Ernest’s son walked in the streets of Paris, people nudged each other and said, “It’s a Chausson!”
The women all dreamed of being part of the Chausson clan!
If this composer had not died at the age of 44 following a bicycle accident, he could have benefited from his notoriety.
“Look at old Chausson!”, one would have said, admiringly, pointing at him.
Who knows? There might even have been pressure for him to enter politics!
“What we need is old Chausson!”
We can imagine the slogans: “Chausson, it’s the foot!”
Photo Stevens Leblanc
OLD AGAIN
But, well, I digress…
Let’s return to Régis’ comments.
It’s funny, but when I look at the ex-mayor of Quebec, it’s not an old man or a slipper that I see, but a fine fox with experience.
Enough experience not to embrace the whims of youth.
Because it’s not the white hair of people in their sixties or seventies in positions of authority that poses a problem: it’s when they’re afraid of being seen as “old slippers”!
That’s when they slip up!
May God save us from old people who want to pass for young people!
Universities, museums and large institutions are full of elderly administrators who are ashamed of their age, and who, to prove that they are still “in the game”, embrace every fashionable cause.
They are the ones who are screwing up the system!
Nothing worse than an “old slipper” that thinks it’s a “gogo boot”!
They wreak more havoc than any horde of little rabbits.
Because they have power!
So, no, dear Régis Labeaume, it’s not the “old slippers” that have to go. These are the “slippers”, period.
Those with brown hair who think that youth is a virtue in itself.
And those with gray hair who dye the inside of their heads so as not to look their age.