Speaking as a senior, I do not feel that we need to make any apologies for the worries and concerns we have about "material" things. Many of us have worked long and hard for many decades to save enough to provide for our old age in a dignified manner without depending upon relatives or the welfare system. We have scrimped and saved, denied ourselves pleasurable spending and felt the responsibility to make a way to live out our old age in dignity. The depletion of retirement savings coupled with the soaring costs of elder care is of legitimate concern to any responsible person. I am 95 and my wife is 90. The future expenses of assisted living and the hiring of someone to drive us to doctor's appointments and roll our wheelchair through the grocery store are worries that we did not think we would have but we do. We appreciate, as you point out, that we are more fortunate than many who have much less than we do. Being thankful on the one hand and still having sleepless nights worrying about issues we thought we had conscientiously planned for are not exclusive sensations.
You voice my own heart and situation, Cameron+. We ARE all entangled together in holy love, immersed in Mystery as in the air we inhale and plants exhale. Grazie, gracias, grace to you and to us all.
You speak the truth so beautifully, Cameron. I see our disorder so much in our disconnection from each other. I am taking a lot of inspiration from the little book “Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way “ by Mungi Ngomane (Desmond Tutu’s granddaughter). Her message, “I am only because you are” or perhaps “because we are” is so simple and so vital in a culture of toxic individualism that is the pride of capitalistic “Americanism”! I strongly recommend it (and it doesn’t take a PhD to read!).
Speaking as a senior, I do not feel that we need to make any apologies for the worries and concerns we have about "material" things. Many of us have worked long and hard for many decades to save enough to provide for our old age in a dignified manner without depending upon relatives or the welfare system. We have scrimped and saved, denied ourselves pleasurable spending and felt the responsibility to make a way to live out our old age in dignity. The depletion of retirement savings coupled with the soaring costs of elder care is of legitimate concern to any responsible person. I am 95 and my wife is 90. The future expenses of assisted living and the hiring of someone to drive us to doctor's appointments and roll our wheelchair through the grocery store are worries that we did not think we would have but we do. We appreciate, as you point out, that we are more fortunate than many who have much less than we do. Being thankful on the one hand and still having sleepless nights worrying about issues we thought we had conscientiously planned for are not exclusive sensations.
You voice my own heart and situation, Cameron+. We ARE all entangled together in holy love, immersed in Mystery as in the air we inhale and plants exhale. Grazie, gracias, grace to you and to us all.
Billy, I look forward to your offerings!
You speak the truth so beautifully, Cameron. I see our disorder so much in our disconnection from each other. I am taking a lot of inspiration from the little book “Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way “ by Mungi Ngomane (Desmond Tutu’s granddaughter). Her message, “I am only because you are” or perhaps “because we are” is so simple and so vital in a culture of toxic individualism that is the pride of capitalistic “Americanism”! I strongly recommend it (and it doesn’t take a PhD to read!).