I love Joe Biden – always have. He has heart and his personal losses, wonderful marriage and loving children and grandchildren, the esteem of his colleagues and from the Democratic Party, and his understanding of America’s purpose in the world have made him a great president with accomplishments that will be compared with FDR and LBJ. But, he’s having a hard time aging and letting go, and that’s sad to watch. We all get old, if we’re lucky. At almost 75, I’m beginning to understand the effects of aging much better myself – mild memory loss, loss of quickness of mind, more aches and pains, physical weariness earlier in the day, etc. etc. etc. – but so much positive comes with aging too – a greater perspective, enhanced appreciation, deepening gratitude, wider generosity of heart, inner calm.

Joe is a great man, and perhaps his resistance in stepping aside is part of the reason for his greatness, that his dogged persistence in making a difference, to do what few human beings have been successful in doing – reaching the highest office in the world – blinds him to the new reality in his life – getting old. Joe’s accomplishments as a leader, politician and statesman are very great, but his time to step aside has come – that’s obvious to any objective observer.

Step aside Joe – we love you. We admire you. Your legacy will stand the test of time. You will rise even higher than #14 in the long list of presidents as history judges you so very well.

Here are some inspired thoughts about getting older, both from the perspective of one who ages and from philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, artists, and writers. If anyone knows Joe personally who reads this, share these quotations with him and Jill. He has nothing to fear and everything to gain. He has been and can be still our hero and example.

Aging is a gift – “Aging is a gift, a chance to keep growing, learning and experiencing life in new ways. It’s about defying limitations and embracing the possibilities that lie ahead… It’s not about passively accepting age it’s about actively living each day to the fullest, wrinkles and all.” -David S. Cantor

Senility and Aging – “I feel as if I’m losing all my leaves. The branches, and the wind, and the rain… I don’t know what’s happening any more. Do you know what’s happening?” -“The Father” with Anthony Hopkins

Compensation of Growing Old – “The compensation of growing old, Peter Walsh thought, coming out of Regent’s Park, and holding his hat in his hand was simply this, that the passions remain as strong as ever, but one has gained – at last! – The power which adds the supreme flavour to existence – the power of taking hold of experience, of turning it round, slowly, in the light.” -Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Respecting the Aged – “Respect an old man who has lost his learning: remember that the fragments of the tablets broken by Moses were preserved alongside the new.” – -Babylonian Talmud, B’rachot 8b

The Aging Artist – “The art of fresco was not work for old me…one paints with the brain and not with the hands.” -Michelangelo

“Clouds of affection from our younger eyes / Conceal the emptiness which age descries. / The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed. / Let’s in new light through chinks that time hath made.”-Rembrandt

Characteristics of Old-Age Style in Work of Greatest Painters and Sculptors – “A sense of isolation, a feeling of holy rage, developing into what I have called transcendental pessimism: a mistrust of reason, a belief in instinct. … the feeling that the crimes and follies of mankind must be accepted with resignation… a retreat from realism, an impatience with established technique and a craving for complete unity of treatment, as if the picture were an organism in which every member shared in the life of the whole.” – Kenneth Clark, Aging Artists

The Complete Life – “The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquility of the evening. Old age has its pleasures which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.” -W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up

Loving Life – “No man loves life like him that’s growing old.” -Sophocles, Acrisius

Growing Old – “Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be, / The last of life, for which the first was made.” -Robert Browning

The Secret of Old Age – “The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.” -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Continuing On – “There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning.” -Simone de Beauvoir, The Coming of Age

The Blessings of Age – “For age is opportunity no less / Than youth itself, though in another dress. / And as the evening twilight fades away / The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus

A Truth About Growing Older – “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” -Audrey Hepburn

The Life of the Elderly – “We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning.” -Carl Jung

The Art of Growing Old – “The art of growing old is the art of being regarded by the oncoming generations as a support and not a stumbling block.” -Andre Maurois, An Art of Living