We’ve changed our name from Encore.org to CoGenerate! Join us at cogenerate.org to bridge generational divides and co-create the future.

We’ve changed our name from Encore.org to CoGenerate! Join us at cogenerate.org to bridge generational divides and co-create the future.

The latest Encore.org story featured by our media partner, The Christian Science Monitor, is from Mark Johnson, a former United Way exec who swapped the boardroom for the streets of Mobile, AL, as the city’s oldest rookie cop.

Mark says he came to understand the prevalence of his community’s suffering, and the need for mercy and justice to address it, in his police work.

As for his age, it became an advantage over time. “The younger cops did convey their disdain for me (called me Papaw, or Hobby Cop) and I was often the last one picked for dangerous assignments.”

But after he retired after 12 years of service, his unit posted a photo of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry on the wall, with Mark’s face photoshopped into it, and the caption “W W M D,” as in “What Would Mark Do?”

Read The Christian Science Monitor story about Mark’s pursuit of community peace and understanding in his encore.

Published: June 15, 2016

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