Prof. Ezekiel Emanuel created
quite a buzz last month with his piece in The Atlantic: “Why I Hope to Die at
75.”
I won’t foolishly try to
outline his views—do yourself a favor and read it here—but I think this sentence
is the nut: Emanuel plans to do nothing and to accept no treatment to prolong
his life starting on his 75th birthday. Living as long as possible,
regardless of the circumstances, is not on his bucket list. Oh yeah, “quality
of life” is on his B. L.
Right now I’m zooming in on one
of his non-bioethical thoughts: he says old people should deliberately commit
to mentoring the younger generations.
“Mentoring is hugely important.
It lets us transmit our collective memory and draw on the wisdom of elders. It
is too often undervalued, dismissed as a way to occupy seniors who refuse to
retire and who keep repeating the same stories.”
In times gone by, “the wisdom
of the elders” was a given; it was cherished and respected.
Among the calamities that
devastated 17th and 18th century Native Americans, after
the advent of Europeans with their diseases and their insatiable lust for land,
was the wholesale death of clan sachems and elders, and the loss of collective
cultural memories, mores, faith, skills and knowledge. The First Peoples had no
writing, and only scanty ideographical records. When the old people died in great
numbers, chunks of culture died with them.
In every age, in every culture,
the old teach the young, and the old should teach the young throughout their
lives.
Prof. Emanuel sure gets this
one right: no matter how old you are, take your opportunities to be part of the
lives of your children, and your grandchildren, and your younger friends, and
help show them the way.
….and, heck, they won’t mind
too much if you re-tell some of those great stories every so often….
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2014
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