YouthGroup interviews WiseElder lunch crowd

Notes:

(1) What do you recommend for improving our long-term health prospects?

Question met with quiet amusement.
“Honey,
I’m eighty years old.
My goal is to continue gracefully accepting my future losses.
I’m not sure that helps you.”

(2) Why have you done so well so far?

This is your idea of success?

When I was younger
I thought about healthy vocational goals,
like dancing and singing–

Ways to cooperate BothFun-AndWork solutions
stretching my more typical
EitherWealth-OrTired non-thinking.

It sounds like you found a long-term approach
for growing cooperatively healthy.

More of a daily philosophy
to not kill myself just yet,
than a long-term strategy.

(3) Looking back,
What healthcare choices would you approach differently?

Maybe I would look more toward future goals
to cooperatively thrive
To grow less frightened by past unfortunate competitions
to survive indignities of old age
in these paternalistic States.

(4) Looking forward,
Why might you choose
and not choose
to plan for long-term health for yourself,
for your extended family,
and for Earth?

I would include most plants as part of my extended family.
Although there are some aggressive weeds
to which I prefer to claim no kinship,
Republican or otherwise.

(5) When should we begin such long-term health planning
and development?

I’ve been waiting for eight decades.
Now, or even yesterday,
might already be too late,
even for my adult children.

(6) In what ways,
if any,
have you begun bringing your own adult childhood toward this great transition time?

Are you asking because you are young enough
to think you know the right answer?
Or because you’re old enough
to be curious about depths
and resilience
of early through late health development
for organic persons,
green plants,
and wealthy planet?

I am, I hope, just young and old enough
to be curious about why
those who plan for long-term planet therapies
also seem most likely conscious
of past health goals
competitively missed,
And others cooperatively still attainable.

Competitively missed goals…
Is that like old people without a shared nap-time map
of where we have been?
So feeling lost about tomorrow’s adventurous possibilities
for continuing long-term healthy sanctuary choices…

For me, long-term health planning is mostly about getting through today
and staying awake with you and your YouthGroup cohorts
on this journey toward WiseElder retirement.

I might recommend more healthy cooperation
toward achieving interdependent community wealth
more than RightWing toxic
competitive monoculturing aspirations.

For me,
and for us, I hope,
long-term climate goals
remain mostly about our extending family
on pilgrimate toward WiseElder Earth
as sacred Sanctuary
And secular communities
of cooperative
curiously continuing
health care futures,
More than competitively courageous and loyal Win or Lose
wealth hoarding
against my, and our, inevitable degenerating future.

(6) What happened to,
I’m eighty
with one foot in the grave already?

I reserve the right
to also focus on the other,
more curiously cooperative, foot.