This is a conversation between two generations. Eli Brent is 86 and I am Noah Taubman, 24-years-old and his grandson.
“I don’t want to be good at aging.” We both laugh. It doesn’t matter who said it, but we agree. We’re not necessarily pessimistic, but we each characteristically resort to humor to begin one of our particularly heavy conversations. Does aging have to be inherently bad? No, but Eli has already sensed my apprehension; we’d much rather be discussing the art of living.
Eli says, “You can’t always choose the question. Living is the gift that allows us to enjoying aging.”
“Hold on while I write that down.” As Eli grabs the pencil he says,
“Just listen. If I’m aging, at least that means I’m still alive.”
Eli has a way with words that still catches me off guard. We continue to talk about life and aging. The purpose of it, the goals we have and trials we all face throughout it. We agree that while we are both aging we are in very different stages of it. Nonetheless, he can learn as much from me as I can from him. When we stop aging, we can only hope we did it the right way. Aging allows us to reflect on the sum total of our lives. The relationships we build, the values we hold close and the legacies we leave are equally important regardless of our age. It is the great equalizer. While it is safe to say that Eli has a lot more to reflect upon than I do, he assures me not to belittle my own musings. There is no guarantee that getting older makes you wiser – in fact it may be the opposite.
“Do you think we have enough?”
“Yes,” I say. “Good. Now we can talk about something important.”
Dr. Eli Brent has been a public school educator since 1951. Noah Taubman is his proud grandson.
