Tag Archives: responsibility

Fearless Aging

Toward an Ethic of Aging I

By Stuart J. Whitley | Bio

About three years ago, I assisted an aboriginal woman elder with a presentation she was doing for the media. She was trying to explain the role of justice as conceived by the first peoples of this continent. Paraphrasing her: first, she said, there is the sky over all of us, then there is the water below. What takes our breath away when we look to the rivers and the forests is the same thing that possesses us when we think about the wonder inside our own bodies. As the

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Wisdom in Action

The Cost of Faith

I have been doing a bit of work in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) lately. It is becoming a hot topic in organizations and a lot of very committed people are thinking about how to think about the mix of economic, social and environmental concerns. Traditionally, the sole purpose of business as an economic enterprise is to make a profit—and therein lies the problem. Yes, all would agree that this purpose includes being ethical, honest and responsible for stakeholders directly

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Fearless Aging

Zoomers

I got an advertisement in an enewsletter the other day. It proclaimed the ‘Zoomer’ as a person who has the body of a 65-year-old, the mind of a 45-year-old, the libido of a 25-year-old and the heart of a teenager. Bottom line is that a Zoomer is a Boomer with zip!

Well, I pass the first hurdle. My body is definitely 65 years old, although I am not sure how that is measured. I am certainly in better shape than many (and not as fit as many others) so it seems to me that the body’s age is relative.

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Fearless Aging

Deep Age and Life’s Leftovers

I reconnected with an old friend this week online—Dr. Laurie Ford. She has just started a new blog, Chute Me Through Deep Age. It has what seems to be a fairly unique perspective on a theme I had not thought too much about, but which makes a lot of sense. She has focused on the breakdowns associated with late-life aging—specifically, any of the dozens of conditions that can either severely handicap us including everything from

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Personal Empowerment

Participation

One of the concerns ‘older’ people share with us is how important it is to keep our health. Hypochondriacs aside, the majority of us still hear and believe that the older we get, the more difficult maintaining good health will be. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if we lose our health, we lose most—or all—of our other options. I confess I am not a health expert: the latest developments in nutrition, dieting and exercise are not my key concerns. Yet I am healthy and, while I could

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Leadership

Leadership, Legacy and Learning

I just finished leading the first week of a course by the same name as today’s blog. It is a pilot program designed to facilitate and accelerate the transfer of leadership from one generation to the next. Most large organizations and institutions are confronting an unprecedented turnover of executives and managers primarily due to the wave of Boomer retirements. This is not just a personnel problem—it is also a strategic concern because how well we prepare the next generation to take the reins

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News

Bees

Recently I saw a CBS story about the strange mystery of the bees. It seems that we have another ‘horrible’ to add to the growing list of threats to life as we know it. The facts are that a lot of honeybees are disappearing in what is being called the “Colony Collapse Syndrome”. I have no idea what this means from a biological point of view, and I gather the phenomenon of billions of bees disappearing has the scientists stumped as well. But whatever the cause, a lot of folks are getting

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Fearless Aging

N.O.P.E.

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?

A lot more than just ‘aging’ issues like Social Security, pharmaceuticals and our sex lives.

First, it pisses us off that the people in charge are squandering away the
opportunities they had to make the world work, or at least be a better
place.

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Fearless Aging

Is Ageism the Problem?

I was talking to a friend recently who was suggesting I commit this blog to defeating ‘ageism’ in all of its often subtle and insidious forms. I said, I don’t want to make this about being ‘against’ ageism for three reasons. First, if there is one thing I have learned in life it is that we get what we resist. Even Martin Luther King wasn’t so much against discrimination as he was ‘for’ equality. Secondly, I want to be ‘for’ the possibility of aging and that is as much about

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Wisdom in Action

The Last Day

About 3 hours until the ball drops and we all sing Auld Lang Seins
and kiss someone close to us. This year had an early dinner, shared
resolutions and went through the ritual of ‘completing’ 2006. I notice
that staying up until midnight somehow isn’t what it used to be.
Nonetheless, this is a special day no matter how cavalier I may be
about it. Every culture seems to have a New Year. I suppose if you are
Jewish and Chinese, you could have three New Year

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