I always loved teaching. In high school, I tutored. In college, I joined groups of fellow students who taught each other. I became a teacher of medicine with an emphasis on endocrinology and geriatrics. Finally, as I became geriatric myself, I could teach my contemporaries to maintain health.

Although I was more popular as a lecturer when I spoke with the decisiveness of youth, I think I was better able to teach people as I aged. Why? I think that one's perspective inevitably changes with age and one can take advantage of the change to become more helpful. We learn from experience and thereby become more expert on the subject of life.

Older people, my contemporaries or even older, may have a hard time. Art Linkletter's book on the subject was appropriately titled Old Age Is Not for Sissies. As a result of the many assaults of aging, there is a sense of insecurity, of loss of control over what is left of life, and a wealth of questions about how to handle this difficult phase. Yet, there is much to enjoy. When we are old, there is no longer an inhibition against "telling it like it is." We're free to illustrate advice with experiences from our own life. We are not ashamed of being human and subject to the frailties thereof. We no longer compete with contemporaries. Thus, we older people can help each other.

Therein lies the fun side of aging. Having the title "geriatrician" makes it easier, but it is not essential. Any of us can help any other one of us. We can teach from our experiences; we can use the perspective of aging to make aging happier for others; we can share whatever wisdom we've acquired. In this way, we can develop meaningful late-life friendships, companionships, and loves. Transfer of wisdom goes both ways; I learned more from my patients than they learned from me. Now that I am retired, I miss conversations with patients, but I have found that I continue to practice "wisdom-sharing" with family, friends, and neighbors. Aging has its plusses.