If we had the means to promote an intergenerational dialogue, what would we talk about?
I think we’d first have to acknowledge that:
• Neither generation has a lock on truth AND
• Neither of us knows more than the other.
While we may have a bit more experience in some areas, younger people know a lot more in others. I learned from my son that he knows a lot more than I do about modern philosophy, about dealing with uncertainty and about participating in
We speak of ‘generations’ as if they are homogenous groupings of like-minded people who see the world in more or less the same way. I don’t know about this. I think there are as many intra-generational differences as there are inter-generational differences. I think that what may be distinct is how the young and the old differ in respect to time. The young have a lot more of it to look forward to than we do. The patterns of youthful enthusiasm, idealism and energy seem
By Vincent DiBianca
Bio
Too
proud to be vulnerable, he wasn’t really "accessible". He never really
knew me or dialogued with me to any extent. He didn’t serve as a
confidant, guide or mentor. We never had a heart-to-heart conversation,
and I never felt particularly safe or connected with him. Maybe this
was just our family. Maybe it was the times. Or perhaps it was both.
I
can tell you that being a granddad in 2007 for me is a very different
experience. Okay, so
I recently saw a CBS 60 Minutes segment about aging. It
revealed, once again, how we view age as a physical state that we can
control with “anti-aging medicine”—as if various ‘fixes’ such as growth
hormones, plastic surgery, erection drugs and myriad vitamin therapies
will somehow put off the inevitable. I am not saying any of these
medical remedies are bad. In some cases, it is neat to be able to do
things at 80 that most 80-year-olds aren’t
We’ve all experienced the wisdom that comes with hindsight. It’s easy to have 20-20 vision after the fact, to achieve clarity and perspective on our lives and choices in retrospect. What is sometimes less obvious to us is how much of our day-to-day actions, behavior, moods and feelings are a function of the past.
As I grow older, I find myself appreciating how much of the way I see the world is shaped by my past. When you think about it, this implies that the older I get, the more past I have
I think it’s wiser
to forget about whether we can retire or not based on what our working
status or financial situation may be. If you think you have to work,
then there is a natural tendency to moods of resignation,
disappointment and, sometimes, resentment. People get depressed
whenever they are trapped in a story that limits their self-expression
and turns them into victims of the circumstances. This could be
important to consider if you will continue
We generally think of ‘retirement’ as the line dividing our ‘working
years’ from our ‘not working years’ (or at least, a time when we don’t have
to work for a living). I think retirement is a false distinction, one
that has taken on enormous importance in people’s lives and that can be
a fulcrum for either new possibilities and positive changes or profound
resignation and negative changes.
I think ‘retirement’ is a false distinction because ‘work’ is itself
a false
I was speaking with a woman today, probably in her late 20s, who works for the Public Service in Canada. She is a graduate of one of top colleges and presumably someone the government doesn’t want to lose. She has a both a big vision for change and a seriously self-limiting conversation about what she is and is not able to accomplish in a big bureaucracy at her age. In the absence of a change in her internal conversation about her future, she will probably leave the Public Service early and
There was a show on public TV today about 20 tips to staying young.
It is the theme in a zillion magazine articles at the grocery checkout
that are, not surprisingly, targetted to the graying celebrities and
Baby Boomers. The problem I have is I don’t like the phrase ‘staying
young’. It reveals the context in which we all live—a context in which
growing older is a negative part of our lives, a phase to be accepted
but put off as long as possible. This
About 3 hours until the ball drops and we all sing Auld Lang Seins
and kiss someone close to us. This year had an early dinner, shared
resolutions and went through the ritual of ‘completing’ 2006. I notice
that staying up until midnight somehow isn’t what it used to be.
Nonetheless, this is a special day no matter how cavalier I may be
about it. Every culture seems to have a New Year. I suppose if you are
Jewish and Chinese, you could have three New Year