Boomers Still Seek a Newer World
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What is your encore performance?
Today we understand the conditions that support continued vitality and healthy functioning among our older population, conditions that encourage our older generation to live as elders rather than to become elderly. Some of the questions facing older Americans seeking purpose and vitality at this stage of life include:
> Where can I use my life experience and skill in a productive manner? > How do I stay healthy and vital without enormous medical bills? > Where can I relate to others, young and old, in meaningful dialogue and ongoing relationship? > How to I make sense of my life: past, present and future? There is enormous value, and great benefit to old and young alike, when a community takes a well integrated approach that honors her elders’ wisdom and experience and puts it to use. This has particular poignancy as regards the Boomer Generation. If they can lead the way to a new experience of Elder-hood in American Society, then their life experience can be of special value to the Millennials as they emerge into full maturity. At the same time the dream that inspired the Boomers can take on new life as a learning foundation for the Millennials; helping them find creativity and hope in the face of the global challenges that today demand solution. Our Legacy Mentoring Approach provides a vital link between our Evolutionary Education Programs and our Cooperative Business Enterprises. By bringing these understandings together in practical, hands on business activities in a variety of areas the IRL's programs transfer the life experience of our elders into tangible know how for our emerging adults. Because everyone needs to eat, and because our program is situated in a location widely involved with the growing local food movement, our initial internships involve producing, distributing and preparing nutritionally rich locally grown foods. By integrating these three approaches (education, work and mentorship) in a unique mix, the IRL's initiatives creatively translate a series of social challenges into a sustainable and profitable opportunity that can help create a future for our children and our grandchildren. |
The Master must take his place as one of the trustees of the culture. His charge includes the long-term sustainability of the human-wild interface and consequently of the vitality of the land, waters and air. He becomes the defender of the integrity of all life. Bill Plotkin
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