Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Never too old to mentor


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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