“he had his half-century before him instead of behind him”

Thus notes George Eliot in her great novel Middlemarch, in reference to one her characters, Lydgate, a young doctor.

It made me think of Isaiah, a man in his twenties who was briefly working as a waiter at a pub I frequent.

We had some good talks. He was attending Howard University, had dropped out for no apparent reason, was trying to do different things, was personable, friendly; articulate; had a keen mind, which was apparent, and intellectual ability. He was trying to orient himself; was sort of drifting; though was not lost; had moved back briefly with family in Harlem.

He was contemplating doing something interesting, getting into some field for talented people — I can’t recall what it was.

We had earnest conversations. I told him: Your whole life, future, possibilities, are ahead of you. He was listening, but I am not sure it totally sunk in.

I thought about this when reading George Eliot at the same pub today.

My therapist, Dr. Colp, said the exact same thing (as I said to Isaiah) to me once, more than forty years ago.

I realized this, sort of, then. One might say, half realized.

How quickly life passes.

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   May 26, 2O24

PS – I told Isaiah that Isaiah was one of the Old Testament prophets we studied in a course I took at Brandeis University. He already knew about him.