As I enter the final act of my career, I often ask, “What am I doing?” My husband jokes that I’m a social turkey buzzard—always befriending strangers—and maybe he’s not wrong. I’ve always said, “I want to know what you know, and I want to share what I know.”
Recently at the airport, I watched a young man and a woman my age go from awkward silence to symphonic conversation in fifteen minutes. They mirrored each other’s gestures, shared frustrations, and lit up with possibility. Thirty years apart, but in the same space—perhaps stalled in their careers, but suddenly in sync.
When they left, they had a spark. A new connection. I don’t know if they stayed in touch, but it felt like they’d become mentor and mentee—or maybe both. And that reminded me: we’re never too old or too young to teach, to learn, and to connect.
“We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.” – Whoopi Goldberg