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On Grandparent's Day 2001, we celebrate the arrival last week of our fourth grandchild and first granddaughter. We also want to celebrate all of you who are looking forward to your first grandchild, or who are already engaged in the lives of your grandchildren. Here are two stories from our collection: Former teacher, Don Schmitz, knows how geography can pose unique challenges to staying close to beloved grandchildren. He has become an advocate for better grandparenting. See http://www.2young2retire.org/donschmitz.htm
http://www.grandkidsandme.com/ Educators and veteran travelers Rita and Walter Rosenthal were looking forward to the day when they could take their grandkids along on one of their trips. Here's how one such adventure turned out: http://www.2young2retire.org/rosenthal.htm
We'd also like to suggest that there are many ways to play a grandparenting role, even if you don't have biological grandchildren of your own. Here are a selected list of sites that will enable you to offer a child the kind of love and support he or she might expect from a grandparent.
The grandmother (so to speak) of such programs is Foster Grandparents: http://www.seniorcorps.org/joining/fgp/index.html Geography is no barrier to letter writing. Intergenerational Penpals will match you up with a child. You supply the stamps or electronics. "Big satisfaction; little effort." http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/seniors/spie.html Another venerable intergenerational organization, Generations United: http://www.gu.org/ Rick Koca's organization focuses on homeless teens: http://www.standupforkids.org/standupforkids/ Future Possibilities, now in New York City, and adding Toronto and Columbus. This is one that Howard volunteers with: http://216.66.7.60/ Marc Freedman's wonderful organization, Experience Corps, brings mature people into schools: http://www.experiencecorps.org/ A commercial site (and the home now of Grandma Betty), this of a good portal to many other grandparenting sites: http://www.igrandparents.com/ The Foundation for Grandparenting: www.grandparenting.org, a non-profit that includes links to grandparent camps and travel.
BOOK SITE
If the recent rash of press reports on our supposedly "flawed" Social Security system and the government's plans to "fix" it leave you dazed and confused, here's a fresh, well-argued and thoroughly documented take on this divisive issue from Theodore Roszak, the best-selling author of "The Making of a Counter Culture" and other ground-breaking works. "Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders" (Berkeley Hills Books, 2001) is Professor Roszak's revised and updated version of his1988 book, America the Wise, which essentially proposed that America's emerging "senior dominance" is the "true wealth" of our nation, not the entitlement hell awaiting our children and grandchildren that critics of Social Security would have us believe. Clear your head of the fuzzy math being floated by those who would save Social Security by destroying it, and go directly to the chapter, "Entitlements and the Ethics of Affordability." It's time to stop looking at "the demographic changes of the 21st century through the eyes of Dickensian bookkeepers," Roszak says. Instead, we need to "find a new measure of social progress that includes longevity itself among its highest values. Otherwise, we may be left to conclude that the gift of a long life is more a curse than a blessing." In a chapter entitled "Senior Follies," we are given a number of instances of how longevity could go wrong, particularly for Boomers "haunted...by the assumption that they can have it all." Hence the pursuit of youth that has resulted in a $2.5 billion aesthetic surgery industry. The continued quest for the "inner child" which delays the "eldering role that no society can long do without," postpones the "great assignments" to which we are best suited. Even the so-called productive aging, our celebration of "late-life high-achievers" returns us to the same competitive stance of our earlier years. "To rise above the race ... is the beginning of wisdom," Roszak says. Why not embrace longevity for what it truly is: an "opportunity and responsibility for making wise use of one's years." As he sees it, a maturing society is uniquely positioned to usher in a new age where kindness and cooperation -- the "very bones and sinews of a senior population" - are recognized as our greatest untapped resource, where the Darwinian struggle for existence gives way to "the survival of the gentlest." This is a visionary book from one of our great thinkers, with plenty to ignite the activist in you. To quote an African proverb: If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito."
Bonus Review:
If adventure in exotic locales is your fictional cup of tea, here's a wonderful, lively read from Philip Danze, a late blooming author we profiled in True Stories (www.2young2retire.org/danze.htm). "Conjuring Maud" (GreyCore Press, Pine Bush, NY, 2001) follows its narrator, an aging circus magician, on a nostalgic journey into his boyhood in colonial West Africa where he meets the woman who will become the love of his life. Maud King, 16 years David Unger's senior, is a British explorer who loves Africa as much as the narrator does. One day, the continent will bring them together again. "Conjuring Maud" should be on bookshelves
soon.
MEDIA WATCH
* Patricia Kitchen's column in big circulation Newsday "Working Out What To Do in Retirement: Boomers rocking the rocking-chair image" offers some personal insights on the subject that seems to be on everyone's mind these days. We appreciate the mention of 2young2retire. Click, or cut and paste this link:
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-2357135sep09.column?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dcolumnists
* Assessment tests have their place in helping us match skills with career options, especially for those of us in a career transition or expecting to be soon. Any number of skill assessment resources exist, but for our money -- that is, free -- here's one that is pretty good. It's O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, which describes itself as "a comprehensive database system for collecting, organizing, describing and disseminating data on job characteristics and worker attributes." Click www.doleta.gov/programs/onet/ Your tax dollars at work!
* Seeking computer training in your community? Check out www.agelight.org, a Microsoft-sponsored public service site that provides a directory of adult training programs and white papers on web design and usability tips to customize computers and Internet appliances for older computer users. * Good job hunting? Here's an article that might help: "Older is Better: Late-Career Job-Hunting Advice" by K. Daniel Glove, see http://www.careerbuilder.com/wl_ct_0003_olderbetter.html POTPOURRI * Check out our columnist, Lois Ambash's provocative "Online Medical Information: Good For Your Health?" Click (cut/paste) http://www.2young2retire.org/loiscol2.htm * Affluenza, n. the sinking feeling that no matter how much you have - money and stuff -- it's never enough. Maybe you missed the highly regarded PBS special of the same name that was aired last year. Well, "Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic" from the originators of the concept, John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor is "a timely and provocative manifesto" on our consumerist, materialistic society, with suggested remedies. To get to this review on the Wharton website, try clicking on this live link. If that doesn't work, cut and paste. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=2&articleid=416&homepage=yes And while you're there, surf around. It's loaded with good information. * E-cards, those free, last-minute messages that show you care, get our vote as the "killer ap" of the moment. Now you can get yourself out of hot water and make a donation to wildlife at the same time: http://www.e-cards.com/site/home.pl
* Our visitors write: [2young2retire]What a good idea! There's a whole herd of folks out here who are still working and having a blast. Retire? Sure, when I'm about 102.
I recently retired myself and just started my business on the web. What you had to say was an inspiration because I get so much negative things said about what I am trying to do, especially when I say my goal is to make a lot of money. I take this very serious and I enjoy reading successful stories like yourself and others. Some people feel that the word "Retire" means sit in a "Rocking Chair" and raise grand children.
* A friend who works for the Environmental Protection Agency brought our attention to the Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) Program. Administered by EPA, it "utilizes the wealth of talent, experience and skills possessed by retired and unemployed older Americans in
helping to prevent, abate and control environmental pollution. SEEP workers are not federal employees, nor are they employees of the grantees (any one of six national aging organizations),
however their pay, fringe benefits, vacation, etc. are administered by the grantee organization. The website: http://www.epa.gov/epahrist/see/brochure/index.htm
* Midlife Moments is a free e-newsletter of shared "moments" of insight, perspective and observations about the midlife journey for women, published by Sharon Teitelbaum, Personal Coach. To subscribe, send a blank email to: MidlifeMoments-On@lists.webvalence.com.
* End Junk Mail! Here's a resource that claims to get you off the lists. You print out a form you can mail. They don't say how long it takes, but considering the alternative, it's worth a shot. Go
to: http://opt-out.cdt.org/drawform.php3 Until next time,
Howard and Marika
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