SENIOR MOMENTS
WISDOM, GRACE, & COURAGE A rich treasury of spirituality and service can enhance the later stages of life.
“W
hat do you think you will be doing when you’re 80?” a first-year college student challenged her classmates at the beginning of a presentation about a woman her project group believed promotes the common good. Reactions were immediate: “I’ll probably be lying in a bed in an old folks’ home.” “Someone will be pushing me down to dinner in a wheelchair.” And, finally, to spontaneous laughter, “I’ll be dead!” Then the students projected a slide with a picture of their exemplar of the common good: a smiling, lively-looking Sister Helen Prejean. At age 80, she had just published her third book, a memoir, and was still at the helm of the Ministry Against the Death Penalty.
18 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
My students’ hilarity and overt ageism quickly dissipated. Amused but not surprised by this reaction, I wondered how my 18-year-old students might reinterpret me, their energetic teacher, if they realized I trailed Prejean in age by only 8 years. Would they be surprised, even shocked, to realize I could be their grandmother? A MYRIAD OF CHALLENGES
Based on current data about aging, my teaching career could last for almost another decade. According to a 2021 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, taking into account deaths in 2020, life expectancy for males in the United States is 75.1 years and for women, 80.5.
ISTOCK PHOTOS: LEFT TO RIGHT: EMP PHOTOGRAPHY; MEDIA PHOTOS; RAPID EYE
By Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD
