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Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you've found yourself asking "what's next?" Planning your direction in life is never easy, but if you're over 50, your answer to that question may very likely be colored by cultural stereotypes, old perceptions, even misguided beliefs about how people should act and think as they age. Writer, cultural anthropologist and George Mason College professor emeritus Mary Catherine Bateson wants to challenge those perceptions, and get people to reexamine how they look at life and aging. Bateson will be bringing her thoughts on re-thinking aging to Springfield in a lecture titled "What's Next? Staying Engaged with Life and the Community After Age 50" on June 9. Sponsored by the Springfield City Library, the lecture will take place at 2 p.m. in Community Room of the Central Library, 220 State St. "There's a novel situation in the world because people are not only living longer, but living longer with good health and they need to decide what to do with those years," Bateson told Reminder Publications in a telephone interview from her New Hampshire home. "I'm going to be talking about how one goes about thinking about that, and a little bit of cross-cultural comparison." Bateson said she feels that many things in American society from politician emphasis on the importance of entitlements to older people to the way retirement is presented in the media are "giving people a false message." "It's wonderful to call your time your own, to take it easy, travel, see family," Bateson said. "But I think a lot of people who make the decision that what they want is leisure then turn around and say, 'now, what I want is meaning. I want to contribute'." Bateson said that, in her lecture, she will be encouraging people to consider the possibilities that this gift of extended good health and long life offer them. "Frankly, people's imaginations haven't adjusted to thinking about how they can use that time," Bateson said, adding that she felt events such as the one the Springfield Library is offering are an ideal way to get people thinking. "Libraries can help by sponsoring discussion groups where people can explore what kind of legacy they want to leave, what roles they want to play [and] what they want to contribute." She calls her approach to aging "active wisdom." "What does it mean when you combine the wisdom of many years and the experience of many years with the capacity to be active [in your community]?" she asked. About Mary Catherine Bateson Daughter of famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, Mary Catherine Bateson has written and co-authored many books and articles, lectures across the country and abroad, and is president of the Institute for Intercultural Studies in New York City. Her most recent book is Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery, a collection of writings exploring how humans understand, create and adapt to the world in which they live. A booksigning of her latest title will follow the event. | ||||||
