You know you're getting old when ...

Last night I received an email from my friend, David Steele, in which he questioned whether I had ever thought about writing a book that summarized the lessons I'd learned through the years in my profession. His suggestion was at once flattering and just a little bit sobering. It recalled an experience I had many years ago at the Decatur First Christian Church. Ralph Smith, the pastor, commented about a group to which I belonged that we were going to have to revise our opinion about ourselves as "radical young thinkers" because we were no longer young and quite frankly our thoughts weren't all that radical any more either.

I'm flattered that David thinks my experiences in organizations are worth committing to paper and that they might possibly have some value to others. On the other hand, I don't feel nearly old enough to be ready to write my memoirs. It's one of those activities that one tends to see as a possibility that lies out there in that distant future somewhere, but of course, those who do write their memoirs have to do it before they've "finished" their lives. So all of them are works in progress, I suppose.

At any rate, David's suggestion provided me an opportunity for some interesting contemplation. And it reminded me of the fact that time is fleeting. I think we all need three lives -- one of them to learn how to live a worthwhile life, one of them to actually live it, and one to reflect on and summarize that life for posterity. It is the rare individual who combines those three lives into one.

Thanks, David, for your thought-provoking message.
- posted by Perry @ 6:34 AM