I just saw a movie which had been produced by the Weinsteins. It was interesting in that it was so intellectual. There’s no surprise to me, after taking a look at it, why Eisner wanted to buy them out. They were just simply too intellectual. They were making niche movies and Eisner wanted big blockbusters.
On the other hand, this particular movie, whatever it was, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, was the story of a mathematician dad, a full professor at the University of Chicago who had gone mad, and his daughter, who apparently inherited all of his genius and a touch of his insanity.
One of the sub themes of the movie was the fact that you tend to do your best work somewhere between the ages of 23 and 27. In other words, your mind is most fertile at that time. The theme was amplified not only by the fact that Cybil had done that, but also by the fact that Anthony Hopkins, at a later point in the movie, produced nothing but gibberish in his later years.
As I think through that process, and wonder what happened to him in his later years, I am mindful of my observation years ago that conquerors, not just generals, are in their early years. For whatever reason, they’re young: Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, etc. They were young when they conquered. Why is that?
As I listened to the gibberish the Hopkins character reads in the film, I recognized something which was true to me.
When I interview a younger employment applicant, they’re crisp, to the point, directed and focused. When I interview someone 25 years older, it’s not that they’re “old,” because they’re certainly not. As a matter of fact, most of the time, they’re younger than I am. However, their answers aren’t clean, concise, or pointed. They’re not focused at all. They meander through life’s journey and life’s experiences.
They, as I, carry the baggage of life around with us and it becomes a heavy weight.
The baggage they carry demands description. The baggage I carry reflects caution. Whether slowed by distractions, or stung by doubt, age inevitably slows down decisive direction in our lives.