It has been said that youth is wasted on the young. We do not think that "wasted" is quite the right word.

We think, perhaps, that youth is not fully appreciated by the young. By its very nature, youth has little experience and little background upon which to draw in dealing with the world. The advancing years, in contrast, often hold a wide range of experience, experience that confers a certain patience, a serenity, a wisdom.

This serenity, this wisdom, has been described by many to have its underpinning in the feeling that all things are somehow inter-connected, that they all make up one vast, magnificent whole.

And accompanying this feeling, very often, is a desire to give something back, to take some of the good that has accrued and give it back to the world. This may show up in a variety of ways: the setting up of scholarships; the volunteering of one's experience and expertise to charitable organizations, and helping in the political arena with invaluable wisdom.

Now, if you are forty or forty something, most of you will probably not have given much thought to this phase of existence. You are busy with family life and with careers that are approaching their zenith. But, as has happened with many in the past, that later stage of life will likely bring a similar outlook to many of you as well. You too, will at some point want to give something back to in some way improve the world around you.