Giving Back and Volunteering

Photo credit: Luther Bailey/National Park Service The articles I have recently read about Betty Reid Soskin put me in mind of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day with the closing lines: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Soskin, throughout her life, seems to have understood […]

Community service is a great way to put to use our six decades of wisdom, and typically any locality will offer plenty of opportunities for volunteers of all ages. But if you want to really amp up your impact, consider rolling your volunteering energy…

Each July, we Americans dedicate time to celebrating our independence, and perhaps this year more so than others after we’ve endured various stages of isolation and lockdown amid the pandemic. The 4th is a time to revel in the notion…

When I was growing up, we used to have a saying translated from Yiddish, “What am I, chopped liver?” We said it whenever any of us felt left out of the group in some way. In college, I studied social psychology and learned that humans crave a sense…

Eating is my passion and I take it seriously. I love cooking, but I’m passionate about being cooked for, so I’m supremely grateful my wife is an amazing home cook. Every time I devour one of her gastronomic gems, or even when we’re out restaurant…

My oldest grandchild just turned five, and since he was born, I have been blessed with four more grandchildren. Becoming a grandparent has been a magical experience for me. I never knew that it would elicit an entirely new set of thoughts and emotions…

Although sometimes being a climate activist can be overwhelming and depressing, I remind myself how lucky I am to be living at this important moment where we can step up to the biggest challenge in human history – to stop the destruction of our planet…

Future generations will depend on the choices we are making today. Every effort to reduce carbon emissions and protect natural habitats now will be much harder to take in future decades. Sara Jaquette Ray explains that the frontline for the climate crisis…

After a loved one dies and the funeral is over, you may think the worst is at an end. Then come the many practical matters: settling the estate, filing for life insurance benefits, transferring deeds and titles, and the often dreaded, and sometimes lengthy, task of…

Socially distancing for physical health can have the opposite effect on our mental health. We are social beings, created to connect meaningfully with other human beings. When we lose that, we lose part of ourselves…