I find that blogging takes discipline and persistence, neither of which I’ve practiced lately. I wrote a dismal piece last night, but pulled it this morning.
At late night, I do have energy to write. The classic writers would call it “my Muse”; ancient Christian writers “the unction of the Spirit.” I guess I’ll have to let a draft sit overnight before posting it.
I’ve tackled several intellectual projects (1) to fend off brain deterioration and (2) to avoid anxious brooding about moving into an elder community:
- For Father’s Day my darlin’ girl gave me Cesar Chavez: a triumph of spirit by Griswold del Castillo and RA Garcia (University of Oklahoma, 1995). I’m delighted. As the preface says, Chavez is the closest thing Latinos have to a national hero; his model was St. Francis of Assisi, whose biography sent me into orbit last year.
- I’m doing my 2nd annual audio survey of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. By this time I get about 70% of the Elizabethan speech. The survey reminds me how much I love the Bard. Penguin issued the plays in single volumes that are easy to hold while listening to the Arkangel disks.
- Films I’ve seen:
- Bright Star, an exquisitely filmed telling of John Keats’ and Fanny Brawne’s love affair. Keats began to show symptoms of the TB of which he died at 26. Because he was poor, they couldn’t marry. It struck me deeply. On my desktop I put a shortcut to Project Guttenberg’s file of Keats’ 1820 volume of verse.
- The Blind Side. Yes! That from a guy who doesn’t enjoy sports films a lot.
So I’ve got a lot on my plate. Why? For the same reason people climb Everest or run marathons.
I need input especially at the moment, as we are researching residential elder communities. Dad kept promising he would make his move to community living when the time was right; but in fact he delayed until we children had to make wrenching decisions for him. I don’t want to do that.
The African model of community has much to teach us. Why do American elders prefer to hole up in isolated homes, rather than gather in clusters of care? I don’t want to be dependent, or lose freedom; but neither do I want to be alone.
As Boomers age, we’re going to force society to adjust as we have through each decade. When we were school age, cities and towns had to build schools. Now they will have to change to accommodate large numbers of older adults.
A culture without elders, in effect, suffers from sociological Alzheimer’s. That’s America. We need to reach back to Native American traditions about elders (and others), to season our culture with wisdom that cherishes elders, rather than disposing of them.
