Compassion struck me in my 40s because when I met people who were 15 or 20 years younger than me, some felt awkward or unrelaxed that I was so much older than them even though I knew there wasn’t much difference between us. And I remembered what someone in their 40s seemed like when I was in my 20s – very ancient. That is why the whole thing was about compassion because if this dynamic between myself and people 15 – 20 years younger than me was true – what did it mean about people who were 15 – 20 years older than me? Probably that they knew something about me and them just like what I knew about me and the youngers-than-me. Probably that I will be them too in a moment or two and might be surprised that I’m still the same. You would think one realizes these things before living it but it isn’t necessarily so. A lot like that best piano lesson ever I had with Freddie Stone who didn’t play piano. A lot like my colleague who believes you cannot teach anybody anything but show them how things work like where the on\/off switch is concealed or where you change the fuses and then they can test that out but ultimately we all do our own learning. (or not)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"