Beautiful young people are accidents of nature. Beautiful old people are works of art.- Eleanor Roosevelt
This quote caught my eye today because I’ve gotten quite a few emails from colleagues infected by the Anna Kournikova virus that’s spreading worldwide today. I admit, I was tempted to click that attachment. I’m as influenced as the next guy by our culture’s obsession with youth and beauty.
There’s an elderly retired professor who frequents the Goodbye Blue Monday coffeehouse where I hang out and write most mornings. I don’t know him but I watch him and listen to his gregarious interactions with everyone, young and old, college and townie. He seems to epitomize what Roosevelt meant by a work of art, like Morrie from the book Tuesdays with Morrie. Maybe I’ll introduce myself next time I see him. I’d like a visual image of the geezer I’d like to become.