The life of our time

Reading Peggy Noonan's collection of essays, The Time of Our Lives. She introduces her essays with a quote from Laurens van der Post. An interesting idea.

We live not only our own lives but, whether we know it or not, also the life of our time.

It echoes an often unexpressed sentiment I feel when I am talking with older people Their sense that they are the last of their ilk, of their era, of their generation, of their time. There is no-one else left who carries the same shared body of knowledge and habits of mind as they do. They may be happy and surrounded by children and grandchildren who love them but they cannot help but feel as a person now separated from the flow of time.