I'm not convinced age is the almighty arbiter of enhanced perspective that we think it is.

Sitting at a hightop in the coffee shop around the corner, I'm trying to keep my eyes on my computer screen in front of me. I'm wearing headphones, but I can hear the shrill outbursts of two or three kids with their parents by the counter. If I had to guess, they're all under the age of six. I scrunch my brow as, one by one, they conquer the hightop directly in front of mine.

Woof... that's one very tired looking dad.

He lights up.

"HEY! Wanna go outside??"

My grin must've looked hilarious. It took everything I had to keep from bursting out laughing. That's pretty much word-for-word what I say to my dog, Ava, and this guy just blurted it out like a Hail Mary to his kids. But I don't know him or his situation. I also don't have kids. Who knows what their day's been like so far. Or their week, their month, their year—their lives.

I'm still pointedly looking at my computer screen. Leaning on my left forearm, my grin shrugs and I click on one of the links in those stupid roundup emails I get from Reddit. Sure, I feel guilty, but after this I'm getting back to work. So who cares? And besides, it's a post about how "Getting older is realizing that the ending of How I Met Your Mother wasn't bad, it was just realistic."

Fuuuuuuuuhhhhck—

I sit back with a whooooosh.

There's something to that.

Real life is messy.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that, either. In fact, I think it's the great leveler among us human beings—fallibility is a universal affliction. When it comes to empathizing with imperfect career paths, bumpy romantic histories, slip-slidey substance use, and a whole bunch of other very human storylines, the only benefit of age—that I see—has to do with the increased opportunity it provides for collecting a variety of experiences. And, ideally, ones that expand our capacity for empathy.

Closing my laptop, I reach for my journal. This is a really fascinating thread: perfect stories have imperfect plot lines and fallible characters. That's life. Shit happens. That person on Reddit was definitely onto something.

But who knows... perspective is pretty subjective and real life is real messy. We're all just doing our best.

At any age.

* * *

When's the last time you caught yourself judging someone and had to remind yourself that no one's perfect? Cool cool cool cool cool... me too.

onward.

For more on this daily column, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.