Perspective from a Century of Living

Today the Washington Post's Express has a feature [PDF Link] about a 104-year-old Kansan, Waldo McBurney, who still continues to work. McBurney is full of wisdom. Plus, his name is Waldo. It's nice to see coverage of someone who espouses values of humility and simplicity amidst news of excess and hunger for power. Here's McBurney:

We're living in a faster age and we think too much about money and leisure. Our morals have gone downward. There's always hope, but it's hard to see how the good is going to come.

Even though McBurney has known hard work all his life, he indicates that he lived free of the stress that characterizes modern, urban living, where we operate under the idea that productivity is the result of long hours and high pressure. Again, here's McBurney:

McBurney grew up on a farm at a time when neighbors helped neighbors without asking, when life was more about work than worry. "I expect people worry now more than then. Worry is killer," he said.

This guy couldn't be more right. However, there is one pearl of McBurney wisdom that left me a little...confused:

A lot of the poulation thinks the biggest thing they can do is kill somebody they don't agree with.

They do? I think you lost me there, Mr. McBurney.