Over many years, I’ve met a great many seniors. One man was paid 25 cents per day as a plowboy during the Great Depression. He was paid 50 cents per day during harvest season. Another man, Russel, flew 54 missions as a turret gunner in an A-20 Havoc bomber over Germany during World War II. His daughter has his flight book and impressed upon me that the bomber was hit on every mission her father flew — and that there is not a single exclamation point in his flight record.

There was also an Army nurse who was stationed in Italy during the war. I won’t begin to describe the horrific wounds, pain, and suffering she witnessed. Those are just a few of the seniors I’ve known. Just a note: Russel is still alive and is 103 years old. That would have made him 21 or 22 at the time of his missions.