Terence Genus Benson – 50th Reunion Essay

Terence Genus Benson

617 West End Avenue Apt. 9A

New York, NY 10024-1607

terrybenson@nyc.rr.com

917-805-3902

Spouse(s): Katherine Kline (1981 – )

Child(ren): Ross Benson (1981); Kara Benson (1984)

Grandchild(ren): Simone Benson (2018)

Education: Yale BA 1969; Saybrook. Columbia General Studies, 2 courses, 1966-67

National Service: (rejected for enlistment – 1966)

Career: Raised in the theater – on stage at 3. Television Production Assistant 1966-67. Stage manager 2nd season Sesame Street, 1970-71. Replaced (for diversity). WNET/13 Public TV Stage Manager/Associate Director (46 years); Metropolitan Opera TV (35); Dupont Columbia Awards (32); Currently Associate director, PBS NewsHour Weekend

Avocations: Go (Asian game) – American Go Foundation, president (1997 – ); Coop Apartment Board (1981 – ); youth soccer scheduler (1998 – ); Yale Alumni Chorus, stage manager (2001 – ), Yale Glee Club Associates, board (2017 – ); Directors Guild of America, union council (1977 – ); Sports official: Soccer, softball, futsal (2004 – ); Travel: 80+ countries (1967 – )

HONORS: Directors Guild of America, Franklin Schaffner Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); American Go Association, Edward Lasker Lifetime Achievement Award (2017); Westchester Youth Soccer League, Hall of Fame Inductee (2017)

College: Saybrook

“It’s about time!” Yes, a good time to reflect about time, our time. 50 years does lend some gravitas.

At three, I asked my mother “Am I going to die?” She answered simply “yes,” and that focused me on time and now—how to use what’s left.

My three “holy” texts (two from Yale philosophy): Professor Brumbaugh and the Temple of Delphi: “Know thyself,” and “All things in moderation.” Second, the Kantian imperative. Act only as you wish the world universally to act. Act as you want it to be. Last, the Serenity Prayer. Not a prayer to a being! A prayer to oneself. Change the things you can, accept what you cannot change, and try to be wise enough to know the difference. But what to change?

My markers are songs and poems about time. “But at my back I always hear, Time’s winged chariot hurrying near…. Thus though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we can make him run!” “Time it was, and what a time it was, it was /A time of innocence, A time of confidences.” Prufrock. Frost, “And miles to go before I sleep.” And how many times have I sung, “Time and change shall not avail, to break the friendships formed at Yale.”

Brought up in the theater, on stage at three. Mostly with adults. Show time! Time to go on. Not a normal child’s time. Fifty years working in television with stopwatches, clocks, timers everywhere—seconds matter. I play Go—too little time to think. I referee soccer—running time. Family time with my wife and kids—I wouldn’t change a moment of it. Now a grandchild will mark time as nothing else can.

I’ve used time well enough, although a partner or two has “…just kinda wasted my precious time. But don’t think twice….” It’s not “all right,” but there’s no time to regret and plenty of time later to sleep. Now is when we were delaying gratification to. So… what’s on the bucket list? What do we do? We can’t be afraid! (There’s no escape.) No pockets in a shroud. No lust or wanderlust in the grave. Jungles, heights, 100 countries, on the road again! But….

My father insisted, “We are here for a purpose!” and keenly felt the press of time. I don’t believe in a “calling,” but Yale gave me a focus. Not “For God” (I’m a secular humanist), nor “For Country” (though I love it), but “for” family, people, friends (including “For Yale”) and even (modestly) the world. I found that the most rewarding, lasting joy is what you give others. Pleasures fade and “we will pass and be forgotten with the rest.” What will remain is what we’ve built.

So I engage in my many communities intensely for 20 and 30 and 40 years; and I recharge my passion in exploration of the world to feel I have both lived my time to the fullest and given fully to life.