On a brighter note, for a number of years now I’ve been “Grandpa” in Boys to Men, a program for teens where I have mentored many teens . This gives me great hope for the future, particularly helping troubled kids get to a better place. The kid I’ve been with longest, an African-American orphan from the worst part of the District, is now in his second year on full scholarship at a good college. For me this overcomes whatever fears that come up over decrepitude and mortality.

Should anyone want to look into mentoring, the national website for Boys to Men is http://www.boystomen.org and our local website is http://www.boystomengw.org. There is an excellent movie following two boys, “Journeyman” available on Netflix. Much of the movie involves teens in our Washington DC area program.

A lot of us will be having 70th birthdays this year.

Mine was two weeks ago. I was feeling pretty cocky as the date approached–I’m pretty healthy, very active (two high altitude treks a year and lots of other travel), and I recently shed about 25 pounds–so I thought I was pretty cool. But, when the big 70 actually arrived, I was very subdued. Seventy is indisputably “old.” No way you can kid yourself that you are just “middle aged.” And that launched me onto thinking: What did I accomplish in my life, what can I (should I) still do with the time that remains. No easy answers.

So, Mike, I wonder if it would be helpful if our class members shared thoughts on reaching seventy. Maybe you could organize some kind of email or other forum on that subject. I am very interested in what other classmates think about all of this.

Steve Howard

My comment above is time stamped as 2:57 am.

I am sitting at home in in Arizona and my computer is telling me it is 19:57.

The East Coast of the US, therefore, should be operating at 21:57, not some time tomorrow morning or almost yesterday?

As for that picture, Chris, have you tinkered with Photoshop lately?

Your comment was right on about how nice it was to see Tom Luckey’s dream fulfilled by kids crawling all over his “Climber” at the Boston Children’s museum. I recommend a visit to the museum for all classmates with grandchildren in tow — and for those who like sculpture. You don’t have to pay to see the sculpture, and the museum is right on the vastly-immproved Boston waterfront, about six blocks’ walk from the Institute of Contemporary Art’s smashing new building.

As for public issues among the alumni notes, I was pleased you strayed over your own line after drawing it and gave us a grassroots tidbit about the health care debate. I’d be for flexibility in classmates’ comments on public issues. I agree that random bloviations are not worth my time, but I think mini-essays are when they come from people with standing. When someone like Jonathan Ater, who is on a statewide health reform commission, can be tempted into writing his views, or a former state department person has thoughts on an area of the world where he knows a lot, or someone with a strong business backround is willing to write reasoned thoughts about a topic he’s up on, or the member of a nonprofit board has ideas on the realm of his activity, well, many times I’ll listen.

For instance, I happen to know you’re tapped in to a good deal of forward thinking on medical care through your association with one of the few Harvard professors who has joint appointments at the busines and medical schools, namely your good wife, so I might even be willing to sit still for what you distill from the circiles that puts you in.

Best,

Chris

PS: Is the terrific shot at the top of the column used for your movie auditions, or what?