Searching for Wisdom...

Searching is really what this blog is all about, searching and discovering new things in the world of elderhood and helping to bring them to Pittsburgh. That and championing the good things that are already here, all as a volunteer along with my elderly neighbors.

So imagine my surprise while searching tonight when I came across this feature piece by Barry Barkan in the current issue of Tikkun. Barry had told me it was coming out when I saw him in August, but I had completely forgotten about it.

For those who didn't read my opening post last Friday, Barry is an Ashoka Fellow and originator of the Elders Guild idea. If you get a chance watch this special interview with Barry created as part of the Ashoka-Berkeley Social Entrepreneurship Digital Library Project.

From the Tikkun article:

The Elders Guild—and whatever other organization we can create that provides community, nurtures wisdom, and commits to healing the future—can rebalance the world. I have learned from my work as a community organizer with thousands of old people that the mixed blessing of older years is the great social equalizer. It creates the universal ground that transcends economics, race, religion, ideology, and health status.

Old people have taught us that long years frequently smooth our jagged places, humble us, deepen our compassion, and enable us to respect common wisdom. Given a modicum of integrity, it is likely that, as we ripen, we will care more deeply about the important things: about life itself, about relationships, about the preciousness of the mother planet, about peace, about harmonizing with the sacred, about being loving, about forgiveness, and about taking responsibility for the world we will leave behind to the grandchildren.