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Senior Citizen or Elder?
Since the coining of the term "senior citizen" I have always wondered why our culture has not used the term "elder" instead. The American Heritage Dictionary defines senior citizen as: "A person of or over the age of retirement."That's it. That's all. Nothing more. Not much to that definition. Rather bland and nondescript. Does that mean that if the age of retirement is raised to 70 years one will not be a senior citizen until 70 years old? What about those fortunate enough to retire at 60 or 50? And what if someone chooses never to retire? The term senior citizen does not tell us of the years of experience or wisdom older adults have accumulated that are of benefit to society. It does not convey the sense of tradition and learning that older adults can offer.The term "elder" is much richer and more meaningful. Elder, when used as an adjective is defined as:
Greater than another in age or seniority.
Superior to another or others, as in rank.
When the word is used as a noun elder means:
An older person. An older, influential member of a family, tribe, or community.
One of the governing officers of a church, often having
pastoral or teaching functions.
Elder is respectful. Elder gives deference to the years of accumulated knowledge and wisdom that comes from living. As we mature from our "youth culture" we have an opportunity to build a strong foundation based upon the wisdom of age. Being an elder invokes a sense of strength and tradition. Throughout history elders have been the conveyers of tradition, culture and values. It is the elder who teaches about who we are, where we come from and what the mistakes of the past have been. It is the elder council that has traditionally been the source of stability and decision making in more "primitive" cultures. The elders had a place of honor, a status that was recognized as important to the healthy functioning of the family and community.In our culture growing old has been equated to being weak, ineffectual, "in the way" or to be "put away." I am always amazed at what I learn from even the frailest of elders. Only in the last 50 years or so have the old been treated as useless. We will all be old, if we are fortunate, and we will carry with us the lessons of our lifetime. Rabbi Zalman Schachter had this to say in defining elders: "An elder is a person who is still growing, still a learner, still with potential and whose life continues to have within it promise for, and connection to, the future. An elder is still in pursuit of happiness, joy, and pleasure, and her or his birthright to these remains intact. Moreover, an elder is a person who deserves respect and honor and whose work it is to synthesize wisdom from long life experience and formulate this into a legacy for future generations." (Schachter: From Age-ing to Sage-ing, Pg. 271)
Kindness -
Before you know what kindness really is,
you must lose things, feel the future dissolve
in a moment like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand, what you counted
and carefully saved, all this must go
so you know how desolate the land scape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride, thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone who journeyed
through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice catches
the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out
into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world
to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you
every where like a shadow or a friend.
- Naomi Shihab Nye
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GENERATIONS LEARNING TOGETHER
In my brief lifetime I have touched upon whole epochs of human history, from the old folks of my childhood in the South who remembered the world soon after the U.S. Civil War to the young men who conquered it all in WW II; from the joy of one decade to the agony of the next, from the fear of one decade to the fantasy of the next; 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and so on. I have witnessed the crawl of civilization. I have seen the ashes of what once mattered and shared the dream of what might be.
I am alive and evolving at the same time this ancient planet is alive and evolving, at the same time you (and everyone else) are alive and evolving; personal history, family history, cultural history, biological history, we all merge and emerge; on different rides at the same time; or the same ride at different times. We live with our questions and try to inhabit our inadequate answers. And in the pain of our solitude we often succumb to our fear of one another because of our intense need for one another; not only for love, but also for hate.
At this moment in our culture’s history, when science and technology have granted us a greater than ever before capacity for planetary destruction, our primal tendencies toward violent resolution have made us both stupendously vulnerable and stupendously lethal. As we unconsciously surrender to the ancient antagonisms of race and religion, and the profits of war continue to influence political decisions, we increasingly invite the possibility of our own annihilation.
Now, in this early 21st century, we are also faced with an historically unique compression of consciousness. Due to the recent acceleration of ever more rapidly changing technologies, each of the six generations alive today has had its coming of age in a substantially different world. This has created generational gaps of new and as yet unknown proportions. And as we adapt and change to the tune of successive world views, the habits and language of preceding generations become antiquated almost as soon as established. We are so deluged with the products and mind-sets of a technologically driven, worldwide waste-based consumer culture that we hardly have time to consider the ramifications of what is happening to us.
There was a time when my grandparents could maintain and repair their daily technologies mostly on their own, when the knowledge and skill-sets they lived by were of practical value to their children and grandchildren. These skill-sets were often passed on within meaningful family relationships and could even lead to gainful employment for the young. For most societies in the developed world however (and many third world countries as well), this is no longer the case. Even though personal family relationships are still based on traditional roles and assumptions, the tools and toys of accelerated technology have profoundly widened the gap between generations.
Compounding matters even more; in just the past century we have added thirty plus years to our life expectancy, more than in all the preceding five thousand years. And, at the same time, due to the boomer age wave, we will soon experience an astonishing increase in the number of aging citizens. Without knowing what it will mean or how to prepare for it, we are essentially adding another whole generation to a centuries old traditional mix. We are clearly moving into unknown territory.
Longevity on such a massive scale could possibly move us toward a surprisingly new and meaningful "completion" of the human life course. But, unless generational harmony prevails, it could also lead us to “age wars” over limited resources. What these conditions will ultimately mean obviously remains to be seen. But I choose to believe that our extended lifetime will have a profoundly positive affect on the whole spectrum of life stage development, redefining and remodeling all generations at the same time.
Elders make the mistake of assuming the young know little because of their lack of experience, unaware of the youthful brilliance that sees the world “as it is,” through a clear lens of possibility, unencumbered by the judgments of past experience. Youth makes the mistake of assuming that the past experience of elders is trivial and irrelevant because of their lack of knowledge about current trends and technologies, unaware of the wisdom gained through years of problem solving and painful learning. Imagine bringing the strength of these generations together as they discover the possibility of actually learning something from one another.
"We are not what we know, but what we are willing to learn."
The above quote, from Mary Catherine Bateson (daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson), expresses the essential spirit of the “Intergenerational Learning Community” I have been working to promote at the local level. A further statement of hers brings the point home:
“We are convening a new reality when we invite the generations to sit down together and apply their collective intelligence to issues of common concern.”
My proposal is to bring generations together - high school, college, professional, middle aged, elder - in open and honest (respectful and compassionate) group discussion on a variety of issues that affect the entire community - as a kind of advisory council. I believe this ideal of egalitarian communication can be achieved through Dialogue (as evolved by David Bohm); a creative form of inquiry that liberates participants by identifying and then transcending the defensiveness often embedded in our opinions and assumptions.
Dialogues such as these, open to the divergent and necessary viewpoints of all our living generations, will create a uniquely powerful Learning Community, one with potential for accurate, innovative results. I also believe it is the gift of each generation to have an instinctive, coherent view of another generation’s shadow, with profoundly useful insights just waiting to be heard (when they can be heard). The challenge will be to create an intimate intergenerational bond that transcends ego identity.
As idealistic as all this may sound, consider the possibility of discovering a truly holistic human perspective, one in which the viewpoints of every generation, the “collective intelligence,” are equally valued and included.
Like it or not, we are currently engaged in an unconscious and mysterious process of evolving profoundly new adaptations. Habits of the past no longer apply. The challenge now is to bring this process into greater consciousness, from the point of view of all generations, so that we may explore and influence the future for the benefit of all concerned.
© Rabon Delmore Saip 2011
INTERGENERATIONAL PLAYDAY IN THE PARK
Although few of us seem to know about it, the first Sunday in October has been officially designated as Intergeneration Day. Since learning about this, my imagination has focused on a possible event here in Sonoma County that continues to hold my attention: an Intergenerational PlayDay In The Park; a celebration for all generations; a time for children and elders to explore and enjoy common ground; a time for food, music, games and stories; a time for our sense of family to extend beyond those we already know.
So now I would like to cordially invite your imagination. It will take a lot of energy, but I think we’ll want to slowly and "organically" grow this day, allowing ample time for the message to spread and those who want to be involved to organize their participation. We’ll be looking for musicians, story tellers, elders with memories of old fashioned fun and games; teachers, elders and school children who might want to perform - anyone who desires to participate with grandparents, parents and children in celebration of our belonging together in wholesome community.
“Creating an age-integrated community leads to a healthy community, where the strengths of one generation meet the needs of another. An appreciation for cultural heritages, traditions, histories and values would be evident. Age-integration also increases community awareness about issues that affect each generation. There is a rising intergeneration revolution happening in our culture. Increased recognition of how age-integration can help solve some of the serious social problems our children are facing is growing steadily. Intentional intergenerational connections are being made and are combating the segregation and isolation of different generations.” ---From the IG Day Web Site - Link Below
National Intergeneration Day -
Information about National Intergeneration Day.
Generations United -
Provides resources and networking for US
organizations promoting intergenerational
strategies, programs, and policies.
Generations Together -
Seeks to promote intergenerational activity as a
positive force in society, as a professional field,
and as a rewarding area of academic inquiry.
A program of the University of Pittsburg.
Generations Incorporated -
Nonprofit organization committed to
intergenerational awareness through clubs,
after school and other programs.
Intergenerational Programs and Aging -
Program developed at Penn State aims to
increase cooperation, interaction, or exchange
between any two generations.
Creating an Intergenerational Ripple
Around the World
A Project of The Shambhala Institute
for Authentic Leadership
Intergenerational Communication
Guidelines for The Process of Getting Acquainted
Assessing Intergenerational Inquiry:
Content and Impact
A Project of Imagine Chicago, a Nonprofit
organization working with individuals
and community groups for civic improvement.
SPECIAL EVENTS
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