Just Doin the Math

I heard a brief note on NPR this morning about Emma Faust Tillman, a 114 year-old woman and now the world’s oldest person. She was born in 1892.

This woman’s parents were once slaves. She was born during the Spanish-American War.

She was 8 when the president was shot in Buffalo.

She was turning 20 during World War I.

She was sliding into 40 when the Great Depression came.

She was almost 50 by the time Pearl Harbor came around.

She was in her 60s for the Red Scare.

She had reached 70 by the time the president was shot in Dallas.

One wonders if she was a Beatles fan, back in her early 70s.

When a man landed on the moon, she was 76.

The Internet didn’t come around until she was 100 or so.

She was 108 for 9/11.

NPR had a quote from the woman’s daughter, saying, "So much has happened in 114 years that there's nothing really that fazes her anymore."

I don’t doubt it.