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Privatizing Trust

Wednesday Oct 29 2008

   By Jim Selman | Bio
One of the central tenets of my work is that everything happens in a context of relationship—a shared background of concerns, commitments and practices—what I call a background of relatedness. We may make commitments as individuals, but we always fulfill them in networks of relationships with other people. The other day I was asking, “What does it mean for an economy to collapse?” What is the worst-case scenario of the current ‘meltdown’ and ‘freezing of credit’? (Interesting that these two most frequently used metaphors, extremes of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ are referring to the same thing and both are ‘state’ changes.) My conclusion is that...[Read More]

Written by admin at Wisdom in Action

Tagged with: economy elders possibilities privatization relatedness trust

Culture and Intergenerational Support

Thursday Aug 07 2008

The Science Daily reports that cultural expectations impact the benefits of intergenerational support.

Intergenerational Support and Depression Among Elders in Rural China: Do Daughters-In-Law Matter?, a study published in the July 2008 Journal of Marriage and Family, stated that in the province of Anhui in rural China, assistance from daughters-in-law with household chores and personal care created fewer depressive symptoms in elders than that offered by sons and daughters. The report's authors, Dr. Zhen Cong and Professor Merrill Silverstein of the USC Davis School of Gerontology, found this was most evident in situations where daughters-in-law co-resided with their husband's parents.

In traditional rural Chinese society, the efforts of a son's wife are seen and accepted as meaningful contributions. Almost two-thirds of China's older population lives in rural areas, making it the largest concentration of elders in the world. Considering that Chinese society is changing, elders will be disadvantaged if they don't adjust their expectations about the appropriateness of support from their children.

[Read More]

Written by admin at News

Tagged with: culture elders intergenerational_support

Boys of Boise

Monday Jul 14 2008

   By Jim Selman | Bio
A long time ago (in the late 60s I think). I read a book by John Gerassi called The Boys of Boise, Furor, Vice and Folly in an American City. Basically, it was a shocking journalistic reporting of how a city’s fears can create a kind of mass paranoia. Boise, Idaho isn’t quite the Wild West, but to this day it has a kind of ‘cowboy’ feeling about it. In the 1960s, same-sex anything (other than drinking and football) was something that just didn’t happen. You’d rather be a Red than Gay in those days—long before “Brokeback Mountain”. The book chronicles what happens when Time magazine reports that Boise is a mecca for homosexuals in America. The bottom line is that anyone and everyone was a suspect, the City hired a Gestapo-type investigator, and McCarthy-like prosecutions followed. If you want the details, get the book. I am reminded of this because to my shock and dismay, I read recently that child protection measures in the UK will be expanded with the implementation in 2009 of the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which will increase the number of adults to be vetted by the criminal justice system to 11 million.[Read More]

Written by admin at Wisdom in Action

Tagged with: child_protection elders generations legislation relationship

Every Human Has Rights

Friday Apr 25 2008

The Elders are working with a wide range of organizations to remind the world that much work remains to be done to protect the human rights of all women and promote women's leadership. To mark the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, the Elders are running the Every Human Has Rights campaign. They are asking for 1 billion individuals, rather than governments, to sign their declaration and commit to embracing the values and goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [Read More]

Written by admin at Wisdom in Action

Tagged with: elders human_rights

It's the '60s Again...

Wednesday Nov 14 2007

By Don Arnoudse | Bio


My wife and I recently visited seacoast New Hampshire to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After leaving historic Union Chapel, the scene of our wedding 26 years ago, we were in a nostalgic mood as we drove into the center of Portsmouth. As we left the car to stroll through the town center, we heard quite a ruckus. To my surprise, the cause of all the commotion was a crowd of white-haired people holding signs in the town square and loudly shouting slogans in protest of the Iraq war. I was immediately transported to those days in the late ‘60s when I was marching with my classmates in protest of the Vietnam War. We closed down Michigan State University in the spring of 1970 and spent our time in tents on the campus lawn engaged in intense discussions about politics and war.[Read More]

Written by admin at Leadership
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Tagged with: community connection elders peace protesters war

N.O.P.E.

Wednesday Feb 28 2007

  I want to create a new organization to stamp out stupidity and indifference and restore common decency and good will into society. I think I'll call it the National Organization of Pissed-Off Elders (N.O.P.E.).

What’s pissing us off?
[Read More]

Written by Jim Selman at Fearless Aging
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Tagged with: aging elders politics responsibility traffic

How Old Would You Be...?

Wednesday Feb 21 2007



By Lauren Selman

Bio


When do you start to get older? After reading the comments about aging, I ask, “When does aging begin?” Aging is placed in the context of those entering their thirties and beyond, but for me, I believe the process of aging began the day I was born. When I was a little girl, I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I simply responded, "I don't want to grow up." But the truth was I was growing up as I was saying those words. I was resisting aging from the moment I could answer such a question and the fairies of Neverland dusted me with fairy dust. But the wonderful thing about Neverland is that everyone is there. The older pirates and the youthful lost boys.

[Read More]

Written by admin at Fearless Aging
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Tagged with: age aging elders growing older young

Taxis in Turkey

Wednesday Jan 31 2007



By Elizabeth Russell

Bio
Thinking about the place of elders in other cultures, I’m reminded of my days in Turkey. Although I wasn’t, by American standards, an elder (I was in late middle age at that time), I was considered so by the people in that culture. My first experience was in Izmir, Turkey, where I was teaching English at Ege University. Some of the time, I took a dolmus (share taxi) to and from the university. I had no problem getting a space in the taxi going to the university because we lived at the beginning of the route, but coming home was a different matter.[Read More]

Written by admin at Wisdom in Action
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Tagged with: culture elder elders

Don to Earth

Friday Jan 26 2007

I don’t know if Don to Earth reads this, but if so I want to send him a belated 93rd happy birthday message. While I have never met Don and know him exclusively through his blog, I appreciate his mind, his wit and the clarity with which he communicates whatever is on his mind. I think he is an example of someone who is conscious and responsible for his age, but not limited by it. His claim to being nearly the world’s oldest blogger has a touch of fun and a grin rather than any sort of self-congratulatory air to it.
[Read More]

Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action
Join discussion COMMENTS [2]

Tagged with: age culture decline elders listen

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