It's early February, and MY Neighbors has opened its "virtual doors" and begun our Pilot Program!!!
As of this writing there are 105 people on the MY Neighbors Interest Group email list. However, I am posting this month's update on our new web site to let folks know we are up and running. While you are here, please check out the web site and let us know what you think. It is still a work in progress but we will appreciate any feedback.
A couple of quick announcements:
1. We now have approximately twenty Volunteers (the number keeps growing) and ten Pilot Members participating in the Pilot Program. Call Managers are organizing our schedule and also figuring out how to use our system of fielding calls and logging requests. Things started off slowly yesterday, but the pace has picked up. I fielded calls for six service requests this morning! If you are a Volunteer, service requests will be coming your way. If you are a Pilot Member, please call us with your requests so we can become familiar with using our system.
2. A reminder that we are celebrating our launch on Monday, Feb. 13 from 5-7 pm at the Celo Community Center. Over 150 of our fellow Virtual Villages have signed up to host a watch party to celebrate fifteen years of Beacon Hill Village and the Village Movement! (We anticipate that approximately 5,000-8,000 Village members from across the country will be watching the live program.) Dr. Atul Gawande (author of "Being Mortal") will be interviewed by Robin Young, host of NPR's Here & Now, and he will speak about the value of community and opportunities as we age. The webcast will begin at 5:00 pm, so please arrive a few minutes early if you want a seat. The stream will last one hour, after which we'll socialize. Bring cake, sparkling cider or champagne, all are welcome!
What I Learned from Dr. Bill Thomas
Dr. Bill Thomas is best known for founding The Eden Alternative, a global nonprofit that works to improve the care of older people. He also creator of The Green House®, a network of creative care centers across the US where elders receive an excellent quality of life and care. Dr. Thomas was among the brilliant keynote speakers at last year's National Village to Village Gathering in Columbus, OH.
Bill Thomas says that one of our culture's biggest problem is "aging illiteracy"-- there's simply a lot we don't understand about aging. It's happening to all of us every day, but frequently we don't even see it.
Human beings, says Dr. Thomas, are the only animals on the planet who enjoy such a lengthy lifespan after the end of our sexual fertility. He said, "We are the ape that gets old. We are wired for grandparenting." We are the only creatures that consistently grandparent our young. Living long enough to become grandparents actually enables our offspring to have more children, since we can help take care of the younger generation.
However, beginning in our late 20’s many of our body's systems begin to decline at the rate of about 1% per year. Dr. Thomas says, "Our aging is symphonic, our whole self is changing at a consistent rate." While today our culture is focused on a narrative of endless youth, we need to reclaim the ancient ideal of generational interdependence.
"It’s not affection that makes a community," says Dr. Thomas, "it’s mutual reliance. Community has value and strength to the extent it is used."
Dr. Thomas also extolled the virtues of inconvenience. "Convenience kills community," he said, "because it undermines community. When things are convenient, we don’t have to rely on each other." In The Green House centers, ten to twelve elders live together in small communities. There is always a large table in the middle of the common area. "The planners always hate it," said Dr. Thomas, "but the food is served family style. You have to pass everything around constantly, but the inconvenience fosters community."
"Reverence inconvenience," he said. "It’s an essential ingredient to the health and well-being of your Villages."
Dr. Thomas prefers the phrase "aging in community" to that of "aging in place" since aging in place can undermine reciprocity. The Green Houses function like tiny Villages. Residents and those who work there are all challenged to be good neighbors to one another. And the primary objective of aging is growth, he said, not safely. Risk is a part of growth. Without risk there is no possibility of growth. "We manufacture excess disability by overemphasizing safety," he said.
"Creative expression is the most powerful tool we have for changing how we feel and believe," he said. "We have to acknowledge the tremendous inequality in the world today, but there are two types of wealth: financial wealth and social capital. Social capital is the value of all the reciprocal relationships in your life. For instance, Howard Hughes had great financial wealth but no social capital. Mother Teresa lived in poverty, but developed tremendous social capital.
Strong communities may not all be financially wealthy, but they have deep reservoirs of 'thick' trust."
To learn more about Dr. Bill Thomas visit his web site: https://drbillthomas.org/
Look forward to seeing you Feb. 13.
Chip Poston
Board Chair