In the flight 1549 threads, I saw a comment along the lines of...
>Some people wonder their whole lives what their purpose is in life, why their lives play out the way they do, with the choices they made and such... where that point will be that answers this question. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger now knows.<
We are all at a point in our lives, when I suspect we will also have this question answered in no uncertain terms.
I suspect you are right. We are all learning as we go. When Beck spent a whole show talking about this last week, I was astounded that it had taken so long for someone to say these words out loud. But he did. Kudos to him.