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March,
2008
The
new year is already well in swing and I haven't
updated since June, 2007. I continue
to be blessed with
many opportunities and a dynamic and
challenging lifestyle. And,
thankfully, I'm busy!
My interest in
engaging retirees in meaningful ways (myself
included) has led
me to investigate some new concepts of
"positive aging." At the
first annual National
Positive Aging Conference (Dec 6-8), I
learned that aging brains have special
capabilities and they're not as limited as
we've heretofore assumed (Gene
Cohen).
With
more people living longer, it may become
almost commonplace for people to do their
best work after age 60! Of course,
throughout history we've known older people
to do that. But we've thought they
were just "special." What if
being older is what's special?
Still,
most people become less engaged and do less
after they retire. Not many reach for
new horizons and few are encouraged to stay
or become meaningfully engaged in their
communities. Therefore, not many of us
can cite real accomplishments or even
say that our communities really need
us. Did anyone ever tell you that
their dad died of uselessness?
Somehow,
we should expect more of ourselves in
retirement, perhaps even more than we did
during our initial careers. And our
communities must come to expect more of us
as well.
Lifelong
learning institutes continue to attract large numbers of retirees
to engage happily in study and building
communities with one another. At the
same time, the communities around them cry out for
help to improve education on all
levels. So how do lifelong
learning communities link up to contribute?
Meanwhile,
too, the aging curve is putting more and more
baby boomers "out to pasture", or, at least
out of our primary careers. Huge gaps
are being created in business, government
and not-for-profits because likely
successors aren't in the pipeline. Yet few
retirees are asked to stay on or to come
back to work. Can someone explain that?
At
least one organization is doing
something. As
mentioned in prior updates, I've experienced a model of
extremely good volunteer development and
management. Executive
Service Corps of Chicago (ESC) still seems
uniquely successful at providing genuine
engagement for volunteer consultants, mostly
retirees. Just this past year ESC developed a practice
to provide Interim
Executive Directors for
not-for-profits whose executive directors
are retiring. Bravo!
Finally,
I'm part of a group in Geneva IL (pop.
24000) studying concepts to institutionalize
innovation and enterprise initiatives in our
local economy. While our plans are far from
developed, active retirees will be an
important ingredient in the mix. And,
to troll for new ideas, I will be involved
in UIC's upcoming international
urban planning conference, Bridging
the Divide and Celebrating the City,
July 6-11, 2008 in Chicago.
Please
contact me with your thoughts. I'd
love to share what I'm learning, and to hear
if you disagree and have different ideas!
Sincerely,
Ernest
Mahaffey
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