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Table
of Contents:
1.
Maggie and Kurt
2. Cool
Career #115: Home Care for Seniors
3.
Fr.ee
2young2retire Teleclass Coming
4.
A Tale of Two Wolves
Maggie
and Kurt
"We
are the risk takers; we are the innovators; we are the developers of
new models. We are trying the future for size — that is our role."
- Maggie Kuhn, founder, The Gray Panthers
"We
have mortally wounded this sweet life-supporting planet -- the only
one in the whole Milky Way -- with a century of transportation
whoopee." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Man Without a Country
When
Maggie Kuhn was retired against her will at age 65, she fought back
by founding The Gray Panthers, one of the most visible organizations
dedicated to economic and social justice for people of all ages. She
was also known for urging people of a certain age, especially women,
to do something outrageous every day. Kurt Vonnegut has made a
career of being outrageous, and at 82, he isn't done yet. Kurt was
recently on The Daily Show and PBS' NOW promoting his new book. He's
mad as hell at the state of the environment, and we should be, too.
Monster
hurricanes like Katrina and Rita – not to mention Tropical Storm Kurt
-- have put global warming on our agenda, big time. Because
the truth is, all of us who drive, fly, shop 'til we drop are
participating in “transportation
whoopee,” and there is a direct connection between how we choose to
live and planetary well-being.
Like
you, we hate bad news (although we did sit through “The
Corporation” to the very end). And let's face it, there is very
little good news about climate change coming out of the scientific
community. Our preference is to go immediately to the part that
tells you what you, personally, can do. So that's what we're
focusing on here. For those of you who want to dig more deeply into
the state of our planet, there will be some links below.
Call
to Tribal Elders
What
can we, as tribal elders, do? Here are some small but beautiful
steps.
Become
outrageously honest about our own contribution to the problem, then
begin to tackle it step by step. More from blogger, Dave Pollard
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/06/09.html#a766
Adopt
a mantra as a reminder to stay the course. Try this one: “The
world was not left to us by our parents. It was lent to us by our
children.” See Generativity,
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/article/item_3566.html
Go
meat-free one day a week. Car-free another day. Can't hurt. Might
help.
Support
local farmers by joining a food cooperative or community sponsored
agriculture (CSA) See: http://newdream.org/newsletter/csa.php
and http://www.csacenter.org/movement.html
Shop
consciously and curb your enthusiasm for holiday over-spending.
Check out: http://www.affluenza.org/
Vote
with your money for companies known for sustainable practices. See
http://www.business-ethics.com/
Check
out your investments. Make sure you are not making profits as a
shareholder on someone else's misery. For a good overview of
socially responsible investing:
http://www.coopamerica.org/socialinvesting/
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Put
politics aside and engage people who voted differently in
conversations about the Big Picture. Techniques at http://www.conversationcafe.org/
Don't
let anyone tell you it's too little or too late. Become a
risk-taker and innovator.
Educate
yourself, then educate others (see more links below).
Get
up! Stand up! See the great PBS program:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/getupstandup/
More
Useful Links:
Cool
Career #115: Home Care For Seniors
For
healthy people 75 and older, remaining in their own homes is
priority #1. Whether or not they admit it, many need some
assistance with basic chores of living such as food preparation and
light housekeeping. Enter the Home Care specialist, who provides
companionship and help when and where needed – think of it as
assisted living, but in an individual's own home. With the growth
of this population, home care for seniors has a bright future.
Entrepreneurs have taken notice. After witnessing his family
struggle to care for his grandmother, Paul
Hogan founded Home Instead Senior Care in Omaha, Nebraska, in the
late 1990s. Other companies offer similar services and franchises.
For more general information:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=928247&page=1
Quick
Takes
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Retirement
planning for people who aren't quitting. October 20, 8 p.m. Eastern
Time, join Howard Stone on a one-hour teleclass sample of the Too
Young to Retire 6- or 8-week course, now being offered around the
country by certified facilitators. To register or get more
information, contact: Howard@2young2retire.com
Procrastinate no more! Write Fr.ee Teleclass in your email subject
line.
55 or older and wondering what your time and experience is worth? Would
you believe $162 billion per year. Here's how it breaks out,
according to Urban Institute research: formal volunteering with an
organization: $44.3 billion; informally helping those in need: $17.8
billion; caring for parents, spouses and grandchildren: $99.6
billion. See theUrban Institute's Perspectives on Productive Aging
research series.
http://www.urbaninstitute.org/UploadedPDF/311227_older_americans.pdf
Sign
of the times. The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Extention/Continuing Education will launch its initiative to create
a Center for Third Agers with the 2young2retire Conference, December
7, 2005. Luncheon speaker is Herb Kohl, United
States Senator from Wisconsin and chair of the Senate
Committee on Aging. Howard
Stone will be keynote speaker.
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We
leave you with this Tale of Two Wolves (thanks to Frank Kaiser of
Suddenly Senior):
A
Cherokee chief is teaching his grandson about life. "A
fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a
terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One
is evil: he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance,
self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride,
superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The
other is good: he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and
faith. This
same flight is going on inside you, and inside every other person,
too."
The
grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his
grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The
old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."
Stay
well, make it new, make it better.
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