Let me be blunt: If this article doesn't work, blame my editor. If it does, you can thank me. Just kidding—sort of. He suggested the topic of this piece. I'm inclined to trust his wisdom. Besides, I could never walk away from a fight when I was a kid. But this is scarier than a fight for an old man. It's about sex.

You know that book, The Joy of Sex? Think of this as The Terror of Sex. What could be more frightening for an old man than the cold realization that your sexual desire is less now than it once was? And you see a definite trajectory.

I led a Bible study made up of men from 23 to 64. Sometimes we older men would swap stories about the indignities we suffer at our yearly physical exams.

We would laugh uproariously as we watched the color drain from the faces of the younger men. They had no idea! Neither did we when we were their age.

But one thing we never joked about was the fact that our sex drive was considerably less than theirs. Then the color might have drained from our faces. ...