Work from two perspectives

Here we've got two men: one in his early twenties, the other now retired.  The first comes from the fictional story "A Writer's Trade" by Nicholas Delbanco which I believe depicts a spot on example of a young man enjoying his easy going career.  He is a talented writer and is praised.  Not to mention he's also young.  On the other hand, Bill Norworth was a railroad engineer for most of his life, hardly ever at home, needing to travel for long periods of time.  Two complete opposite careers.

A major difference between these two occupations is that the character in Delbanco's story had control over his hours, he was able to move around where he wanted to.  A writer basically chooses what they want in order to produce good works.  Norworth, unfortunately, did not.  In fact, it was hard just to get a vacation.  He had not much say a lot of the time.

Looking at a bigger picture, these two occupations are so different that it brings an outlook how either one of these looks at the other.  How would a railroad engineer look at a writer and how would a writer look at a railroad engineer?  Hard to tell.  But, what I can imagine is that Norworth would look at Delbanco's character, Mark Fusco, as young and talented but maybe cocky and selfish?

To be young is nice and pleasant.  I mean Mark finished a draft in six months! (Ford, 130)  How is that possible?  He has it all at such a young age, but as I read the story, I almost felt depressed.  There's something missing and I couldn't quite figure it out.  Maybe because he is young it's ok, but eventually, his successes might dissipate.  To be older is an honor.  One has wisdom and experience under their belt and it is a blessing.  They've seen a lot in their time.  I mean, it's no joke that Norworth is a hard working man.  And yet, I would prefer to shadow him for a week just to see what it's like.