Elders are the cultural glue
Harvard gerontologist tells group of seniors about their value to the community
There’s a reason humans live twice as long as our nearest biological cousins, says a Harvard-trained gerontologist who visited Medford Thursday.
Old people are “the glue that holds us together,” Dr. Bill Thomas told a crowd of nearly 400 seniors gathered at Medford’s Red Lion Inn. He said humans passed on their accumulated wisdom through elders for thousands of years before there was writing.
“You cannot have a healthy human community that does not have the voice of elders in it,” he said. “You cannot teach young people how to live without elders.”
Thomas spoke during a seniors’ health and wellness conference organized by Sen. Gordon Smith and at least a dozen local sponsors. Thomas writes and speaks widely on the role of seniors in modern society and the need to create a new elderhood that fits the way we live now. He’s also a visiting scholar at AARP.
Smith chairs the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Kimberly Collins, committee spokesperson, said Smith plans to make the senior wellness conference an annual event that will be scheduled in a different city every year.
Other speakers have seniors tips for keeping the brain young and encouraged them to share the stories of their lives with family members.
Thomas illustrated the intergenerational role of grandparenting by asking his audience how many of them had a close relationship with a grandparent. When at least half the elders in the room raised a hand, he observed “Those men and women long gone are still in this room. Their influence is with you even now in this room.”