I have six days left before I turn 80 (God willing, as they say). Because I have never been 80 before, I need to look at people who have turned 80 before me. One of those persons would be Joe Biden, who turns 80 today. He has 6 days more experience in this world than I do. Perhaps I can learn something from him.

Of course I retired ten years ago and he has not yet retired even at 80. Ten years ago, what was he doing? He was getting ready to start his second 5 year term as vice president of the United States. Well, there you go. Maybe your responsibilities are vice president qualify that job as a type of retirement.

And then came 2016, when he was out of a job, but even then he did retire, but started to explore new employment possibilities. And less than four years later, he decided it was time to go back into the work force, and – looking at the various positions available for a man of his age – chose the presidency.

There are advantages, I guess, to the presidency. You really don’t have to do anything other than tell other people what to do (sometimes they even listen to you), or tell the world what you are thinking about (sometimes people even care). And you really do have 24/7 medical care – you can take your doctor wherever you go, and if you follow your doctor’s advice, you will probably eat well and get sufficient exercise. And, of course, you get to travel, avoiding some jet lag by having a private plane at your disposal with private quarters where you can lay down and actually sleep, without someone next to you having to crawl over you to go to the bathroom.

It’s all a matter of choice as to how you lead your life at 70 or 80, I guess. Perhaps I should have applied for the job he now has.

Joe Biden has apparent qualities that I don’t think I have. He has extraordinary stamina, and a very tough skin. As a politician, he is subject to demeaning criticism daily. Even putting this aside, he has been through a lot – his first wife and daughter died in a car crash, his son Beau died of a brain tumor, his son Hunter has a long history of addiction problems and now is beset by serious legal problems, and he himself has had a series of health issues – he’s had a brain aneurysm, a pulmonary embolism, an enlarged thyroid, skin cancers, atrial fibrillation, and more. And he literally has the future of the planet and the human race on his shoulders.

Could I have coped with any of that? Could I cope with any of that today? Why would I even want to?

But Joe Biden does not seem burdened by this, does not dote on the sorrows of the past, and is always looking ahead. At (almost) 80, I feel that my responsibility for, and my potential influence over, the future is very limited, and rightly so. But not Joe Biden. He attacks the problems of the future as his own problems, and is looking forward to dealing with them as the world’s most central actor until he is 86. I am not judging here – whether that is commendable or foolhardy – just laying out the facts.

Perhaps, this difference between Joe Biden and myself is not a function of how we respond to being 80. Perhaps it is built into our DNA. Biden was elected to the Senate when he was 29, already having been on the New Castle County commission before that. He has always been an activist (an inside activist, not an outside activist). I have really never been an activist – I have done my part, handled by professional responsibilities and, I hope, my personal ones, adequately, but I have never stuck my neck out to change the world. I have always been content to observe, and complain, comment, and try to understand.

I think that, as one ages, one changes for sure. I also think that, as one ages, one does not change at all.