Death and Taxes and. . .

Filling in the blank of that missing third item.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with popularizing the quote featured atop this column, although he is not named the progenitor - that honor is ascribed to a British playwright, Christopher Bullock, who included a similar line in his 1716 play, The Cobbler of Preston.

Death is, inarguably, inevitable.

And, taxes have been around a very long time, including in ancient Greece and Rome. The Bible includes at least a hundred references to paying taxes (the consensus opinion in the Bible is that one should pay taxes owed).

This is the time of year that we spend time and energy filing our annual income tax returns. Even with the growth of digital tools provided by the likes of Turbotax, it is still a quite painful process. But, as Franklin points out, it’s not something you can avoid.

We here at Rule of Three can’t help but think that there is one element missing in Franklin’s well-known quote - the third element, which would make the quote whole. What could that missing piece be? Rule of Three has some suggestions:

1. . . .the threat of a government shutdown.

2. . . .a Taylor Swift reference.

3. . . .campaign trail mudslinging.

4. . . .the Pirates being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before the All-Star break (Pittsburgh-centric version).

5. . . .the introduction of a new iPhone model, with a similarly enhanced pricetag.

6. . . .the appearance of twelve Amazon packages on the porch, each and every day.

7. . . .Ozempic for everybody (even for non-diabetics).

8. . . .an email from a Nigerian prince seeking money.

9. . . .a viral TikTok video.

10. . . .a Marvel superhero movie.

11. . . .wondering if the article you’re reading was written by a human, or generated by A.I.

12. . . .massive, systemwide Southwest Airlines flight delays.

13. . . .taking an Uber to an Airbnb to spend time with non-binary friends, who will pay their share of the bill with bitcoin (yeah, this last one did indeed consolidate a number of disparate elements which seem ubiquitous these days).

Well, that’s our baker’s dozen of suggestions to fill out the dance card regarding those things of which we can be certain. Do you have additional suggestions for that critical third leg? If so, please share them in the comments section below - we’ll likely ignore them, unless they appeal to our inner Rule No. 3 (you know, the one about “amusing yourself”).

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