There are over one billion people in the world over the age of 60. Psychologist and gerontologist Ken Dychtward notes that nobody has tasked them with much of anything.
Actor Harrison Ford suggested that young people should plant millions of trees to save the planet. Dychtward’s pushback, “maybe the world’s older adults should plant millions of trees to help save the planet in whose shade they might never sit would make an entirely different statement.”
And why not? If we look at people over sixty as a valuable resource rather than over the hill, we help to unleash one of the world’s most powerful resources.
When you think of the impact that experienced and healthy people over 60 can have you wonder why is it that pictures of empty Adirondack chairs are still used to depict life in retirement?
Living a purposeful life provides a sense of meaning – that mash-up of feelings that offers connection with others and the sense we are doing something necessary and worthwhile.
Dychtward’s latest book is Radical Curiosity: One Man’s Search for Cosmic Magic and a Purposeful Life.
Photo by Matthew Smith on Unsplash.