I get along better with old people...

Well, old people may not have been the best description, age is relative, but I have noticed that my best conversations and the people that I get along with best when I first meet them are people at the age of retirement. Lately I have been connecting with many people, but I haven't been able to make any meaningful connections with anybody my age. Don't get me wrong - I have many friends my age whom I spend my time with, however I find it hard to meet new people my own age that are like minded and easy to to talk to.


Today I had a conversation with an older man that drove the shuttle service at my car dealership (he drove me to work this morning). I enjoyed his voice. He had meaningful and interesting things to say. He was confident and relaxed and conversation was easy. While we had nothing obvious in common, we found what was a mutually common ground within seconds and enjoyed very pleasant conversation for about twenty minutes.

I am surrounded by people all day, and every year I have the opportunity to meet even more people (the luxury of being a laboratory science graduate student I suppose, is that there is a high turnover in lab-mates) but rarely are there people like this gentleman. Unless you are over the age of 45. After 45 I recognize a distinct difference in people. Whether it is because the current generation of people that are between 45-70 are particularly easy for me to relate to or if it is just that people reach a new stage of life-development in the mid-forties, I can't say.

I only know that I can not handle the insecurity of youth. Too many young people can not carry a conversation unless they are talking about something they are experts on. Too many people are uncomfortable in their own skin. Too often in conversation with young people I find myself feeling uncomfortable, bored and surrounded by people without any genuine personality, only a painted-on shell of what they think is supposed to be a personality.

Aside from my fetish for vintage pin-up art, it seems I also prefer other types of vintage as well. Having conversation with older people allows me to discuss subjects such as personal growth and development, but also my career and personal life choices in a broader context than just why I do things and how I feel. Speaking with older generations allows me to reflect on my life and compare it to the life of another human who has done more, seen more and experienced more than I have. This perspective is useful because it allows me to use their wisdom to judge my current and future happiness/success and understand that life is longer than I have lived and what I do now affects my life later.

So thanks to all of my friends who are older than me and often my most powerful influences. I appreciate your experience and respect you by honoring it as I make my own life decisions. I would enjoy more people my own age if they took the time to make use of the wisdom around them instead of passing age off as a disease that makes them so uncomfortable that they can't enjoy and make use of conversations with a mature perspective.

BD