One of my favorite local events is called Sages Over 70. Since I am passionate about sage-ing rather than aging, I appreciate lifting up the good works of people who have been contributing to the community and to others for many years. For our community to continue to thrive, we need to keep people engaged so we benefit from their wisdom and resources. While it is nice to escape the Iowa winters, we want people to continue to contribute because they probably have more time and money in this stage of life. Rewarding their contributions might entice others to do the same. We need wise elders to guide the way.
People are nominated based on this criteria:
- need to be age 70 or older
- consistently demonstrated leadership through the decades.
- contributed and still contributes to the betterment of the community, even if behind the scenes.
- been a role model/mentor to others.
The Business Record does such a nice job of profiling each awardee. To read about each of the Sages of 2016 in DSM Magazine, click here. This year I felt fortunate to have successfully nominated two Sages (with several letters of support from others): Loretta Sieman and Alan Zuckert. I also was lucky to have an article included in DSM about Sage-ing (p. 92).
This is the topic on which I am most passionate. In fact, my dream is to have a call-in radio show exploring this topic. Watch for my podcasts where I interview experts on this topic. My plan is to launch them in early 2017!
If people behave in ways that are rewarded, then we need to reward the good work of others so that we keep Sages in our community to demonstrate leadership, contribute to the betterment of our community, and to be role models and mentors for us. And now might be the time to consider stepping up into the big shoes of these sages.
What is the difference between aging and sage-ing?
What is the difference between getting older and becoming an elder?
How can we make the rest of life to be the best of life?