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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…
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…
July 4th gives voice to the ideas of America across generations
Today, we celebrate the Fourth of July, one of our nation’s favorite holidays. Measured by holiday air and automobile travel statistics, travel for Independence Day is rivaled only by Thanksgiving and exceeded only by the Christmas-New Years’ holiday, a time that, in some years, overlaps with the eight-day Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, helping to boost…
Grandchildren have been the greatest joy among the disruptions of 2020
As we approach the end of 2020, many I talk to are saying this year can’t end too soon. And for good reason. The year 2020 has been filled with a lot of noise and friction we would like to forget. An ugly impeachment. A one-of-a-kind presidential election. Unprecedented and deadly forest fires that erupted…
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…
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…
Inter-generational signs of civility give hope for a future without demonizing
Some years ago, I remember a Today Show interview with an age 60+ grandmother who loved to ride her Harley. She and her husband had planned a motorcycle trip around America, but he passed unexpectedly, so she did it herself. Thousands of miles. Mostly on state and county roads. When asked, “What about your trip…
From WWII island hopping and the A-bomb to surgeon, civic leader, centenarian
This article was originally published with the title “Phil Burgess: World War II vet says Truman’s decision to use A-bomb saved U.S. lives”. Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of the first wartime use of an atomic weapon when, on August 6, 1945, the US bombed the Japanese port city of Hiroshima. Today is also a…
The Navy and Rotary are bookends of a life serving others
Like many others in their bonus years, my K-12 years were marked by the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union, which included a nuclear arms race and later the space race. This stirred my interest in national security policy, which led to a 30-year career as a professor teaching national security…