How to enjoy the company of friends, keep active and socialize with those around you.
I hope you're having a happy summer. I hope every season is happy for you, but summer, of course, is the time we're most prone to be connected with others because the warmer weather makes our sojourns and visits more comfortably "do-able." Even those of us lucky enough to be in "the public eye" are sometimes hopeful we'll be able to just visit and chat about anything as pedestrian as the weather. Wait a minute! What am I writing here? Just teasing, of course, about the weather, one of my favorite subjects that's propelled me to the honor and privilege of communicating weekly via these blogs. But, seriously, we know human beings are all social creatures. In my opinion, we truly need to communicate with others, having even a modicum of interaction in order to feel relevant individually and collectively.
Regardless of one's "position" on the social or status "ladder", even those on the highest rungs have the need to need and interact with one another. One of the most powerful examples of that need, in my opinion, focuses on the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Raised in Patrician privilege and wealth, President Roosevelt nonetheless also had special needs after he contracted polio. Regardless of one's politics, seeing him in newsreels and photos bound to a wheelchair during this country's (and world's) most crucial times, he nonetheless showed us inner strength that catapulted him to being elected four times. During his final days, housed at the "winter White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia, again regardless of his power and independent wealth, it's been chronicled (more than once) he would often literally cry and cry-out, because of his loneliness. Indeed, even though incapacitated, he did have the requested company of his most sought-after friend, Lucy Mercer, during his final days, including the day he passed away, April 12, 1945.
Did President Roosevelt's omnipotent stature, in every realm, replace his need for interaction and companionship? No, of course not, as illustrated during his final days of life. It, to me, illustrates no matter how "important" or "powerful" we are, we still all need each other and unless one has been so turned off by society and become a hermit, interacting socially with others is among the most important parts of being a human being. In my opinion, we should treasure all the times we're blessed with the opportunity to share stories, play games, take walks, watch favorite television shows and movies, with at least one other person. I've had many "alone times" in my life and they definitely were not the best times.
In my opinion, we should cherish the socialization available to us in our later years. Ebenezer's communities, now approaching 100 in number, provide that ongoing socialization opportunity and everyday catalyst for social interaction. Enjoy the summer. Enjoy the company of others. That company will definitely enrich your later years with more happiness and even, possibly, keep your mind in the learning lane. We should never stop learning and socializing with others will keep us in that "lane".
Thanks for reading, as always.
I hope you're having a happy summer. I hope every season is happy for you, but summer, of course, is the time we're most prone to be connected with others because the warmer weather makes our sojourns and visits more comfortably "do-able." Even those of us lucky enough to be in "the public eye" are sometimes hopeful we'll be able to just visit and chat about anything as pedestrian as the weather. Wait a minute! What am I writing here? Just teasing, of course, about the weather, one of my favorite subjects that's propelled me to the honor and privilege of communicating weekly via these blogs. But, seriously, we know human beings are all social creatures. In my opinion, we truly need to communicate with others, having even a modicum of interaction in order to feel relevant individually and collectively.
Regardless of one's "position" on the social or status "ladder", even those on the highest rungs have the need to need and interact with one another. One of the most powerful examples of that need, in my opinion, focuses on the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Raised in Patrician privilege and wealth, President Roosevelt nonetheless also had special needs after he contracted polio. Regardless of one's politics, seeing him in newsreels and photos bound to a wheelchair during this country's (and world's) most crucial times, he nonetheless showed us inner strength that catapulted him to being elected four times. During his final days, housed at the "winter White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia, again regardless of his power and independent wealth, it's been chronicled (more than once) he would often literally cry and cry-out, because of his loneliness. Indeed, even though incapacitated, he did have the requested company of his most sought-after friend, Lucy Mercer, during his final days, including the day he passed away, April 12, 1945.
Did President Roosevelt's omnipotent stature, in every realm, replace his need for interaction and companionship? No, of course not, as illustrated during his final days of life. It, to me, illustrates no matter how "important" or "powerful" we are, we still all need each other and unless one has been so turned off by society and become a hermit, interacting socially with others is among the most important parts of being a human being. In my opinion, we should treasure all the times we're blessed with the opportunity to share stories, play games, take walks, watch favorite television shows and movies, with at least one other person. I've had many "alone times" in my life and they definitely were not the best times.
In my opinion, we should cherish the socialization available to us in our later years. Ebenezer's communities, now approaching 100 in number, provide that ongoing socialization opportunity and everyday catalyst for social interaction. Enjoy the summer. Enjoy the company of others. That company will definitely enrich your later years with more happiness and even, possibly, keep your mind in the learning lane. We should never stop learning and socializing with others will keep us in that "lane".
Thanks for reading, as always.
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