It’s impossible to see beyond the horizon, and actually pretty scary to aim for something you can’t see because of the curve of the earth.
The good news is that aging doesn’t just take place on a path through our lives – we age upwards, seeing ever more as we put distance between ourselves and the ground. This enables us to aim ever farther, because we can see ever farther.
It’s easier to take on a five-year project at 40 than at 20, because five years isn’t beyond the horizon from this height. At 20, it was invisibly distant. At 40 it is far, perhaps, but clearly visible.
It’s one of the gifts of age going up: it brings us to new heights and more to see.
That also means it’s up to us to help those younger than us to aim for goals beyond what they can see. With this support, they also can aim for distant goals – more distant than they can see.
I had a senior student who remembered his eighth-grade honors choir conductor as if in the distant past. Only five years – it seems like yesterday to me, but a lifetime ago for him. Remembering that we have different perspectives – that we see from different heights – can help me to help my students grow and change.