I was reminded of a little thought I shared with my last Hope Air passenger during the flight. I wonder whether my life would have been even better, if during my youth I consumed similar gems with any frequency.

My claim to the young lady was that life is both shorter and longer than it probably seems to her.

It is shorter in the sense that once it really gets under way – one’s 20s and 30s – one also begins to sense the end. One’s parents get older, one’s health starts a gentle decline, one’s time begins to be consumed voraciously, one realizes one may not be able to do everything one wanted to. There’s never enough time any more.

It is longer in the sense that, from the point of view of a yongster, “long term thinking” may relate to the party next week or the exam next month. She may choose to smoke frequently, thinking that she’ll never worry about her health. But unless one gets Darwinized out of the population prematurely, there will be plenty of time for regret. There will be time to take one’s health for “un-granted”, for thinking about politics and economics more deeply, for revising one’s attitudes and values drastically. Making decisions with permanent effects is really premature when one’s young.

So, there it is, in a few more words than I was able to squeeze out during the flight.