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OUR EXPERIENCE DIVIDEND: AN HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY
OUR EXPERIENCE DIVIDEND: AN HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY
As John Gardner observed many years ago, “We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” We elders are presented with one such opportunity, for we are the first generation in history to live healthy lives ten, twenty and even thirty years longer than our own parents and their ancestors.
Let's make the best of it. We're an unusually large cohort eager to be of service, but we may not know how -- whether its climate change, mentoring students in need or in restoring our democracy. We are also the first generation to fully connect with the entire world through the power of video-teleconferencing while at the same time we "age in place." And therein lies a solution.
"Let's Be Changemakers" can serve both as a meeting house and an incubator for elders who still have a passion for making difference. For starters, we can get inspired through the example of the prominent social entrepreneurs featured in this website. Who knows where they will take you.
And let's work across the generations. Our youth bring a passion for what is right. Our mid-lifers bring agency. And we possess considerable assets that add up to our powers as conveners
.
This is our generation's one-time only "experience dividend." Let's make the most of it. The communities we belong to will be grateful, as will the generations that follow in our footsteps.
It's nothing short of what Bill Drayton, the founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, calls a “pattern changing idea."
Let's make the best of it. We're an unusually large cohort eager to be of service, but we may not know how -- whether its climate change, mentoring students in need or in restoring our democracy. We are also the first generation to fully connect with the entire world through the power of video-teleconferencing while at the same time we "age in place." And therein lies a solution.
"Let's Be Changemakers" can serve both as a meeting house and an incubator for elders who still have a passion for making difference. For starters, we can get inspired through the example of the prominent social entrepreneurs featured in this website. Who knows where they will take you.
And let's work across the generations. Our youth bring a passion for what is right. Our mid-lifers bring agency. And we possess considerable assets that add up to our powers as conveners
.
This is our generation's one-time only "experience dividend." Let's make the most of it. The communities we belong to will be grateful, as will the generations that follow in our footsteps.
It's nothing short of what Bill Drayton, the founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, calls a “pattern changing idea."