I’m writing a family memoir, and when it came to the topic of my mother-in-law, my 31-year-old son said to me, “You know what’s amazing? She could sum up her whole mission in one simple sentence. ‘I teach children music.’”

She taught music for 55 years and wasn’t your typical music teacher, leading choirs and bringing music from across the globe into her classrooms at a time when universalism and cultural awareness were not yet hot topics. There she was, year after year, teaching children, and then eventually, teaching their children. She briefly retired at 78, then came back and taught some more.

Compare that single-minded focus and tenure to what a career looks like today, especially if you are younger — Gen Z or Millennial. It’s more fractured. We have shorter stints, a distraction ca

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