Mentors

I've been on my job for 22 years, and of course I've had mentors. They're all gone from my agency now, but I had lunch with one of them today.

We were at the Union Street Public House in Old Town well into our 2d local brew and we were laughing at reminiscences. We both have had, or had, two trials in twenty years, and that's more than most at the agency we both worked for.

My friend is one of two mentors I had, the most important one (as lead counsel he orchestrated the first trial I had, and advised me informally on the second one on which I was lead counsel), one of three persons who taught me how to be a good litigator (the 3d was an opposing counsel from whom I learned a lot). When I get to heaven I will be able to look my Dad in the eye (a legendary litigator for his Wall Street firm) and say, Yeah, I did my best.

Anyway, my mentor was recently ferrying around a daughter who is a senior in college along with her friends, and two of them were taking musical history and discussing a question on their final exam which asked, Name one song that encapsulates your generation.

On the spot at the time, he was hard pressed to throw out Wear Flowers In Your Hair (San Francisco) whereas I immediately tossed out Satisfaction to him. Then I said the problem was pinning the answer down to one response, because it could immediately become a shape-shifter.

As in Get Together. Or Volunteers. Or A Day in the Life. But I could, for sure, instantly start writing for an hour on any one of those songs, tying it in to the Vietnam generation, San Fransisco included (written by the creator of the Mamas and the Papas).

The bartendress was listening furtively to us and I could see her chest heaving as she laughed at us two old fogeys drinking and discussing the last century at her bar. Because as far forward musically as I've gotten is U2 and The Joshua Tree.

But I'm going to say it now. You're all going to miss us Baby Boomers when we're gone.