Autumn is a time to share in the lessons of letting go
Heart-warming are the changing seasons of life. When I was a youngster, life was about winter, spring, summer and fall – and each season had its highlights, beginning with Santa Claus in the winter. As I grew older, I came to see winter, spring, summer and fall more properly – i.e., as the seasons of…
Shared stories make lasting memories among the generations
Are you familiar with the Paw Patrol? Perhaps not, especially if you’re in your bonus years. In that case, I’ll bet you remember Disney’s Popeye the Sailor Man or Steamboat Willy. And who could forget Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner from Looney Toons? All these guys, plus Minnie Mouse and Olive Oyl, “performed”…
Grudging compromises are part and parcel of our bonus years
Nearly 100 years ago, Russian-born American sociologist Pitirim Sorokin coined the term “social mobility” to describe how an individual’s social status might change (improve or decline) over his or her own life – or from one generation to the next. It was Sorokin’s work that gave rise to the term “upward mobility” – the idea…
Plant a tree, water a flower, trim a perennial and change the world
Adm. William McRaven, a retired four-star and Navy SEAL – and retired Chancellor of the University of Texas System – used his commencement speech to the UT-Austin Class of 2014, to advise, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” McRaven, who directed the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin…
There’s no stopping the Showstoppers, not even the coronavirus
Three years ago, I dropped in on the South County Senior Center in Edgewater just to see what was going on. Though I was familiar with the Wiley Bates senior center in Annapolis – an impressive place with many benefits, from history and art classes to hot lunches, for area seniors – the south county…
The American Thanksgiving is likely to be different this year
Michael Lindell is a friend of mine. I’m not talking about Minnesota’s Michael Lindell who is seen daily on TV promoting “My Pillow” – the one with the Giza cotton. I’m talking about Michael Lindell, the Australian cartoonist, the one who signs his work “Mikko”. During the nearly four years I lived in Australia (2005-08),…
Berkman’s “lifequake” sent him on a mission to end prison slavery
Just when everything seems to be going smoothly, life sometimes hits you in the head with a brick: cancer, a heart attack or other life-threatening illness; the loss of a loved one; a business failure or financial crisis; a physical disability, depression or other mental health challenge. Most of us have had our share of…
Nana time is the latest response to coronavirus disruptions
For those in their bonus years, the shift to retirement is one of the most important transitions they will make. Especially today because ours is the first generation to reach its bonus years with the likelihood of living an additional 20-30 years – many to age 90-plus. Increasing longevity is why a life plan to…
Annapolis Rotary adapts crab feast to coronavirus pandemic
Adaptation. That’s a specialty of human beings. Most do it really well. The idea of adaptation is at the center of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s often-quoted “Serenity Prayer” – which says, “Accept the things you cannot change; change the things you can; and have the wisdom to know the difference”. Using that wisdom certainly applies to…
With increasing longevity, boomers are the first ‘older generation’
Oliver Brown, age 62, lives in Newcomb, Maryland, located on the Miles River between Easton and St. Michaels. Because of increasing longevity among Americans – adding more than 30 years during the last century – Brown, an aging boomer by most standards, considers himself a “proud member of the first, new, older generation”. There’s a…