I came across this John Gardner speech on personal renewal today, have shared it with a few friends and family, and decided to share it with you as well.
The speech shares Gardner’s thoughts and experience-based wisdom on the seasons of life, covering all the seasons, but focusing more on the latter seasons (which I’m in). There is too much good material to quote it all, so I’ll just extract one paragraph on life’s meaning:
In the stable periods of history, meaning was supplied in the context of a coherent communities and traditionally prescribed patterns of culture. Today you can’t count on any such heritage. You have to build meaning into your life, and you build it through your commitments — whether to your religion, to an ethical order as you conceive it, to your life’s work, to loved ones, to your fellow humans. Young people run around searching for identity, but it isn’t handed out free any more — not in this transient, rootless, pluralistic society. Your identity is what you’ve committed yourself to.
Very well-said: You don’t find meaning without creating it, and you don’t create it without first making commitments.
When you have 5 minutes or so to read Mr. Gardner’s article, I think you’ll find it to be well worth your time.