Too many older adults feel as though they have lost power as they age. The exact opposite may be true, and this category assembles the blogs that explain and celebrate this certainty: Our personal power may remain strong and useful in our later years.
(This entry started out as a rant—a collection of raging observations about truth-under-attack and the triumph of liars. After considering the various rabbit trails of angry content, I realized that I was jousting with windmills and heading towards foolishness. So instead, I present to you a simpler set of observations about seeking truth.) Truth’s reassuring reach enters into every aspect of theMORE...
(I’m not talking here about how we lose things, look all over and then find them in an embarrassingly obvious place. Instead, this entry is about steganography, the enduring art of concealing messages, objects or images inside other messages, objects or messages. More specifically, how older adults might be de facto steganographs or even steganographers!) One of the things I enjoy about beingMORE...
Lately, my dreams are forming a pattern: I’m back at work again, but have no function. I wander around the building, looking for my office—in one dream variation, it’s now a storeroom. In other versions, I don’t know anyone, and they don’t know me. Most disturbing: Although I’m still employed, I don’t have any work to do! In my post-retirement way of thinking, this qualifies as a nightmare. IMORE...
Happily so, several older adults in our church have found new love—friendships, marriages—to replace the possible isolation of divorce, a spouse’s death or illness. At a stage in life when it might seem unlikely, love re-emerges as a wonderful part of their lives. I’m glad for them, and also wonder, “What’s there to love?” That question is not necessarily out-of-hand. In today’s hyper-sexualizedMORE...
(This motto of the United States Coast Guard is an attitude and a promise that might keep us safe at this time in history.) Being prepared is a personal trait—some would say a quirk—that’s been a part of my personality since my teenage years. At the risk of overdoing this thought pattern, I try to be vigilant about matters that may suddenly require attention. What’s semper paratus look like in myMORE...
As I write this, entertainment industry workers continue their strike. Threatened by economic and technological changes, they fear that their work may disappear. Legendary entertainment tycoon Barry Diller has warned that these strikes threaten to collapse the entire industry. Those stories may be good reason(s) for us to get ready for the slow changes to *entertainment as we know it. Perhaps weMORE...
Looking at recent e-mails, I’ve noticed a higher number of junk messages and spam—all of them essentially e-garbage. Because I would have to open questionable links in order to unsubscribe, I feel stuck in e-Purgatory, writhing inside the grips of people who want to foul this e-nest. This bird-brained matter seems to characterize most other e-tools. E-mail’s original intent was quicklyMORE...
Chris recently found a little pocket journal I kept when I was in 7th grade. Holding some of my early-teen immaturities, this small diary also reminded me about the ways in which someone gave me a start. Offered me an opportunity. Invested in me. Showed light on the future. That year I played left defensive end on our parish school’s touch football team, started pipe organ lessons, enteredMORE...
Recently, the State Farm Insurance Company announced its decision to stop writing new protection policies for owners of businesses and homes in California. That got me to playing with the metaphor of “the canary in the coal mine,” an allusion to their warning coal miners about the presence of deadly gases. Because State Farm is a venerable enterprise—over 101 years old—that thought led to theseMORE...
This is one of those weeks on my calendar where “Doctor visit” shows up more than once. Several of those doctors have given me the gift of added useful years—e.g., cancers in abeyance, limbs and eyes in good working order. Although I thank them at every visit—“Because of you, I’m still alive and doing well”—I don’t think I’ve ever given them an account of what these additional years have meant toMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.