CULTIVATING COMPASSION
CULTIVATING COMPASSION
How Then Shall We Live... ...continued from page 13
While Baby Boomers often have a negative reputation among young- er generations, it’s worth mentioning many Boomers were activists on the front lines for Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Women’s Rights/Re - productive Rights, LGBTQAI+ Rights, Pro-Union/Workers Rights, Veterans Rights, Peace/Anti-war/Anti-nuke efforts, Immigration/ Refugee advocacy, Healthcare for All, HIV/Aids awareness, Disability Rights, Death with Dignity laws, Title-IX, Environmental and Animal Rights Movements, and more. Boomers’ institutional knowledge and memory provides a historical road map for nonviolent resistance methods that encompasses the en- tire spectrum of progressive, liberal, humane causes. Many of these same Boomers, now seniors, are still active and en - gaged in resistance efforts, with the numbers growing larger with ev - ery passing year. At this time there are approximately 62 million se - niors (adults aged 65 and older) living in the United States. This group accounts for roughly 18% of the total U.S. population. By 2040, ac - cording to demographers from agencies like the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. senior population is estimated to reach more than 78 million. The senior demographic is vital for political resistance movements due to the unmatched voter turnout, free time, financial resources, and decades of historical perspective, participation, and leadership. Sane, sensible, smart, fired up senior activists are forming and run - ning grassroots organizations (see list that follows), door-knocking, phone-banking, letter-writing, calling their elected officials, protest - Boomers and the Body Politic BY CAM MACQUEEN
to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your ac - tion. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”— Mahatma Gandhi
garden amid our bustling tourist town. As the writer Clarissa Pinkola Estes said, “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” Every day tourists from throughout the country and world pass through our gates. We enjoy connections and conversations, and don’t shy away from sharing our concerns for our endangered world. These are important conversations that help break through the denial that has led to tragic inaction in the face of climate change. The late author and activist Joanna Macy advised, “The most radi - cal thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.” It is hard to hold it all in awareness without being overcome with grief. The brave and perennial beauty of our gar- dens has helped me carry on, moving through grief and despair. Most of my free time I am in the garden, though I continue to stand up with others when I can on street corners and bridge overpasses, and in marches through the city streets in solidarity with others who are acting how they can, when they can, and while they can on issues that they cannot ignore. At a time when so many are asking: “What then shall we do?” the real question before us is this: How then shall we live? “We’re in the great dying,” acknowledges author and Dharma teach - er Catherine Ingram in a 2020 documentary about the climate crisis. Species are disappearing at a rate so rapid that the critical biodiversity that sustains us will not survive. We must accept the truth and give it our voice. As one among this generation of seniors, we have benefitted
Clare Hanrahan is an author and long-time peace and envi- ronmental justice activist living in Asheville, North Carolina. Her books include: Elder & Sage Community Gardens: An Ur - ban Uprising (2026); The Half- Life of a Free Radical: Growing Up Irish Catholic in Jim Crow Memphis (2016); Legal Sys- tem (2007); and Conscience & Consequence: A Prison Memoir (2005). She is a founding mem - ber of Elder & Sage Community Gardens, now in its 10 th year. She can be reached at Hanrah - an.celticwordcraft@gmail.com. Photos courtesy of Clare Han- rahan.
Seniors speaking up for justice.
greatly from the industrial consumer society. Now in these last years of our time here, the consequences of this exploitation of the living Earth are terrifyingly evident. First, we must process our grief, and then find ways to listen deeply to the natural world and to the younger generations who will bear the brunt of the social and ecological col- lapse. Living now in full awareness, we can still love the earth and one an- other, offering our resources, our perspectives, our solidarity — living with gratitude and with courage, even as we face our fear of what is to come. “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have
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Awaken to the God-Knowledge That’s Already Within You!
The teachings of ECKANKAR are based on God’s love and spiritual freedom for everyone. Whatever your path or religion may be, ECKANKAR’s creative spiritual tools can help bring you more understanding, love, and help in these challenging times. You’re free to explore our in-person programs or online spiritual resources at your own pace – with no pressure, expectation, or judgment. We respect your divinity as a spiritual being, and honor your choices and journey.
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ECKANKAR, the Path of Spiritual Freedom
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