Chip wrote a Wisdom Well post a few weeks ago about Ruth Marcus’ Washington Post op-ed on ageism and sexism. I understand his compassionate thinking but I wanted to offer an alternative point of view. In so doing, I shall turn to that most trusted of sources – Bazooka bubblegum.

If you answered yes to that question, you’re like 80% of Americans who feel the same way. Additionally, 61% of us are cautious about sharing our age in the U.S. because we fear being judged.

Despite our love of nature, more humans now live in cities than in the countryside for the first time in history. And we are quickly becoming an indoor species, often spending more than 95% of our days confined by four walls, glued to a two-dimensional screen.

One of the living humans I most admire is Dr. Atul Gawande, who graduated from Stanford five years after me. This prominent surgeon, Harvard professor, humanist and healthcare expert wrote the New York Times bestseller “Being Mortal” and was the commencement speaker to Stanford graduate students, where he uttered the sentence that is the title of today’s blog.

Born before the Great Depression and living until just four years ago, Roger Bannister didn’t quite make it to the 100-year mark of his life. But he will forever be remembered as the first human being to run a four-minute mile.

The cultural symbolism of a potluck isn’t lost on organizational psychologists. We want to create workplaces where everyone symbolically brings what they cook best to the table, and we all are better off for it.

I hear again and again that age is a mindset, that it doesn’t matter; age isn’t a number, that it is something to “get over” so you can live your life. It is only something to get over if you had it in the first place.

Even after six years of leading Awe Writing Workshops, my step lightens, my chest expands, and I feel more connected to humanity each time I wrap one up. I love hearing pens race across paper and seeing faces filled with determination as writers put ineffable experiences into words.

I’m sad I’m missing my 40th college reunion this week because I’m teaching in Baja. It’s only in the past ten years that I’ve started to appreciate the formative relationships and deep emotional bonds I forged with my Stanford friends, which began in the era when Jimmy Carter was President.