Still heeding JFK’s call to serve
I was in high school when I sat in front of the TV with my parents watching John F. Kennedy be inaugurated as president. The experience shaped the adult I would become in ways I never imagined. In JFK’s words, I heard the call to take an active role in my country. Today I am […]
A Human Solution, in Plain Sight
Two generations—children in need of support and adults with the time and inclination to step into roles that provide it — fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. A new monograph from the Stanford Center on Longevity, “Hidden in Plain Sight: How Intergenerational Relationships Can Transform Our Future,” presents a compelling case for […]
National Service’s Big Opportunity
This month, filled with presidential primaries and caucuses, makes me nostalgic and chagrined — but also hopeful. I’m nostalgic for 2007, when then-candidates Barack Obama and John McCain agreed on the vital importance of national service and endorsed legislation to expand it. In his first inaugural, President Obama set national service as a top priority, […]
WHCOA and the Quality of a Long Life
At 70, I’m on the national agenda — along with the 10,000 people who are turning 65 every day. I was in high school during the first White House Conference on Aging, around the same time that JFK challenged us to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can […]