Old Man

It happened in less than a minute, but has been on my mind for hours.

At 5:30 this evening I was waiting for an elevator going down. An up arrow flashed, an elevator door opened and two men finished their conversation inside. A small white-haired man stepped out and looked back into the elevator and smiled and emphatically said, Good job today Jim.

The white-haired man was short, thin and hunched forward. He wore a dark coat over a dark suit and carried a black leather bag. He wore thick glasses with black frames and spoke with a raspy voice.

And I admired him.

Here was a man who could have been retired – any attorney his age working for Jenner & Block and telling someone else that they did a good job, certainly had enough money to retire to any place on earth. Yet here was this old man, returning to his office and feeling good about whatever it was he had done that day.

A great deal of older attorneys chose to work rather than retire. Either they love their work, or it’s simply all they know. Or a combination of both.

The white haired man noticed me waiting by the elevators with my coat on and mistook me for a Jenner & Block associate, he smiled and asked, Taking a half day today?

We both laughed.

A down arrow flashed and an elevator door opened and I got on. The white haired attorney’s smile faded to a smirk, and before he began to walk back to his office, he shook his head and said, Jenner, it takes it all out of you.