You and I most likely did not get a seat at Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech in Washington earlier this month. But, from my television point of view, those words still offered us some fine rhetoric and no little wisdom.
However, most of the Republican office holders did not think so. Most of the time they stayed in their chairs and failed to value good things coming from the president.
This January reminds me of another one, 55 years ago. Jack Kennedy’s centenary is coming up next year, but for me he will always be the young man from my state, taking the oath of office on the capital steps.
It felt as if all that I stood for was finding national vindication and enthronement. As Catholics being so long excluded from the presidency, we had arrived in the person of JFK and could take pride in our ascension.
My first trip outside this country took me to Canada. Back in the nineteen-forties, the family of a high-school friend invited me go with them to Montreal. I knew little of art and culture in those days, but I managed to grasp something of the city’s charm.
Christmas for me and my friends strikes me as difficult this time around. In a season of peace and welcome, we are increasingly aware of violation and exclusion. I have never in my life touched a firearm but altogether too many of my fellow citizens have abused their right to do so. Images of the horrific consequences have become numbingly routine.
Recently I gave a talk on current events to some twenty-five people, most of them close to my age. Before beginning to discuss the ISIS attack on Paris, I asked them to raise their hands if they had ever visited the city.
Every five years, my college class asks each of us to report on what we have been thinking and doing.
As I began to plan what I would write, I realized this was also an appropriate Thanksgiving activity, inspiring me with gratitude for the blessings of my life.
There have been sorrows as well. The death of my brother John stands out as the most notable. He was the first of my siblings to go, and I continue to miss him.
“Until now, aging has been unwelcome for the vast majority of us.”
So write the authors of a newly published book. “The Spirituality of Age.” They are addressing themselves to older people—especially the baby boomer generation—who want to live more deeply but are not quite sure how to do it.