Talking to Old People

LONDON, ONTARIO – All my life I’ve enjoyed talking with people who are significantly older than me. Of course, such well-ripened souls are not as thick on the ground as they used to be and grow fewer with each passing year. While it’s possible to commune in a less mutual way with favourite departed souls in reflection and prayer - and books certainly remain a rich source of old-world wisdom as well – such exchanges lack the ‘here-and-now-ness’ and the responsive playfulness of a two-way conversation with a living, breathing veteran who knows who you are and looks you in the eye and tells you what’s on his or her mind. I was a teenager when I first became aware of this partiality of mine because it would exasperate a number of my peers who were eager to shove off and do teenagery things and not hang around talking with fossils.

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