I went to high school with a class of 900. One of them was Jim Stevenson. He was bright, good looking and sensitive: a boy that might grow old and do great things. Two years after graduation, he died in combat in Vietnam. When I think of aging, I think of Jim and others cut short from leading full lives. Where would Jim be now? What good would he have brought to those around him?
I’m not a very religious man, but I do have a spiritual sense that my life has a purpose, that I’m responsible to do some good things before I die. Having crossed the age of 73, I feel obligated to participate, to act in ways that bring goodness to those around me.
I believe that’s what Jim Stevenson would have done.