A Few Minutes Thinking About Andy Rooney

I can’t say I was a great fan of Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, but I admired his longevity and work ethic. Older people (one of which I hope to be, some day) are practically invisible on TV, and when they are shown they are almost always depicted as either doddering fools or sweet, harmless retirees, with nothing to contribute. Rooney was a exception to this rule and however cantankerous he might have been, he rightly insisted he still had something to say and it was worth listening to. Working in a media (and society) increasingly obsessed and focused on youth, he was a reminder that youth is inevitably fleeting and dissipates, while experience accumulates and compounds itself throughout life. If you’re lucky to live long enough, that is. And reaching 92, Andy Rooney was.