> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.europeans.today/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # As the Beatles said, I say it’s my birthday. - URL: https://www.europeans.today/2022/06/09/as-the-beatles-said-i-say-its-my-birthday/ - Published: 2022-06-09T00:35:00.000Z - Updated: 2022-06-09T22:40:42.000Z - Description: If only B. Jay Cooper’s wishes could come true... if only! - Author: B. Jay Cooper - Tags: OPINION, Mass Shooting, United States ### If only B. Jay Cooper’s wishes could come true... if only! ###### First published: June 2022. --- I turn [72 today](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhdOPhTHeoE&ref=europeans.today). Lordy. Let me get two things out of the way: 1. Getting older is way better than the alternative. 2. I’m luckier than most, I know. I have a fabulous, smart, loving wife. I have three great daughters who gave me six beautiful grandchildren one of whom gave me, so far, one adorable great-granddaughter. Ok, moving along. I had a good career with jobs that were fun, challenging and rewarding. I retired about eight years ago and adapted to retired life quite quickly. And, I’m very good at being retired; I think I found my calling! I live in a fabulous location. I’m having a good life. I have issues all old(er) folks have: the hearing aid arrives next week; the cataracts were done a couple years ago; I had a stroke nearly 20 years ago that, thankfully, left few long-term issues. ### Some prospered during the pandemic & claimed hundreds of millions of pounds from the government’s furlough scheme. **PMP* received nothing.* Help us as we crowdfund to make sure we continue our work. [Please CHIP IN to keep us going!](https://www.europeans.today/crowdfunding/) I have more doctors than I have shoes. And my annual visits to doctors now take about a month to fit in rather than the one-and-done annual physical of years ago. In short, lots more people have a lot more to complain about than I do. I do have a few complaints, but they’re really not about me: - I wish our politics weren’t so divided and painful to watch - I wish there were more of us who answer policy issues with *“let’s talk about it”* than those who respond with immovable *“yesses”* or *“no’s”* - I wish kids weren’t brutally killed in their classrooms or anywhere for that matter - I wish people were not brutally killed while they were praying or getting groceries or, again, anywhere for that matter - I wish an 11-year-old girl didn’t have to smear herself with her best friend’s blood to survive a mass shooting Mostly, I wish wishes came true. ![PMP Magazine](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png "PMP Magazine") --- **What did you think of this article?** [😀](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Good") [🤔](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Not sure") [😴](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Boring") [😮](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Surprised") [😭](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Sad") [🤬](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Angry") --- ### **— AUTHOR —** ▫ *[B. Jay Cooper](https://www.europeans.today/author/b-jay-cooper), Former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Also headed communications offices at the RNC, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University.* --- ##### Sources **Text:** This piece was originally published in [The Screaming Moderate](http://www.bjaycooper.com/blog/as-the-beatles-said-i-say-its-my-birthday?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in PMP Magazine on 9 June 2022, with the author’s consent. | The author writes in a personal capacity. - **Cover:** Unsplash/[Josephina Kolpachnikof](https://unsplash.com/photos/61GeSw3lmWQ?ref=europeans.today). (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license")