>> My father, born in 1935, also has that seriousness. It's hard to put a finger on exactly what it is that men under 70 lack now, but it is definitely something important.
It is absolutely not “calcified melancholy”. My father is a deeply religious man, has a degree in chemical engineering from MIT, was a professor of Hematology for 40 years, and was incredibly highly respected by everyone who knew him, and in particular by his church community. He studied Latin as a child, is an avid bird watcher, and has lived an extraordinarily happy, meaningful, and impactful life. His has been a life of service and of joy. I’m afraid that rich lives like his are becoming a thing of the past.
The PhD to community leader pipeline nowadays is a lot smaller. Most of them now end up being adjunct professors or something.
I’m not sure how much Latin and Church play into things (I did both growing up and it’s not much to write home about) but I think the decreasing opportunities for a rich life have more to do with the systematic de-skilling of the professional and academic middle class. Society can not countenance regular individuals with that much leverage and influence so it does everything in its power to reduce engineers, teachers, etc to cogs in a machine
How life sounds like an interesting one. I wonder what drove him. My experience with seriousness is one as a consequence of loss and an obsession with becoming skilled enough to prevent history repeating itself.
"Seriousness" or calcified melancholy?