Many Native Americans and their supporters like myself recognize the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of ALL AMERICANS, but there has to be a better way to honor Italian Americans, without associating them with Christopher Columbus.
I hope that we could find a reasonable compromise to satisfy all parties involved moving forward.
There are often a whole host of reasons that we narrate in order to convince ourselves and others that we are helpless to make a choice which is mindful of the needs of others.
Maybe your sense of belonging comes from your family, your friends, your faith community, the clubs or organizations in which you participate.
What is a lynching? By definition, it is a premeditated extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, convicted transgressor, or to intimidate a group.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
I wanted to take this opportunity to follow up on Peggy Roberts’ article from last week regarding the Diversity and Inclusion Day to be held this Monday, January 21st in the Everett Luther Life Center, between 12:00 and 3:00PM. The Diversity and Inclusion Action Council (consisting of residents and staff) specifically chose to hold the event on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an honor to the many contributions of King’s societal movement to a more inclusive society.
A day such as this makes me incredibly proud of our campus community as we resolve to stand together to recognize we have the power to change our attitudes, to overcome our ignorance and fears, and have the ability to influence our peers and neighbors to embrace and build together a more loving, caring community—open and affirming of all.
The campus is a community of caring people who, together, create a healthy, safe and secure place for everyone—no matter the geographic, ethnic, economic, religious, sexual orientations, age, or gender identity—to live, work and age with dignity. It is truly an environment which promotes acceptance, inclusion and diversity where everyone can thrive and live to their fullest potential by respecting each other.
I do hope you will join us for the open house. Whether it is for 10 minutes or the entire three hours, your presence is appreciated. Come by to hear what diversity and inclusion means to others, share your place of origin on the world map, and enjoy foods from around the globe. *
January 21 from 12 – 3 pm Life Center
Since last April, a council of residents and staff have been meeting to focus our attention on issues around diversity and inclusion. We seek to live further into the Beatitudes Campus Promise to value and welcome all people regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. We believe that each of us can not only make a difference but BE the difference to help create an environment where we can bring our whole selves to our community. We hope to create and sustain a culture where every employee can come to work feeling comfortable, accepted, and set up for success–a community that residents call home where they feel a sense of purpose and value. The Action Council is excited to invite YOU to our first annual Diversity and Inclusion Day next Monday, January 21st in the Life Center. From 12 noon to 3 p.m. there will be a variety of presentations and activities and we hope you will come participate any time that afternoon. A glimpse of what we have planned: 1. Celebrate your unique identity and culture by finding your place of origin on a world map and realize how globally connected we are; 2. Share what diversity and inclusivity mean to you; and 3. Enjoy tasty snacks which reflect spices and tastes from around the world.
January 21st is also important because it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when we recognize the many contributions King’s movement made toward bringing about a more inclusive society and the powerful words of his I Have a Dream speech will inspire us during the day. There will be tables with items and information celebrating Black History, the LGBTQ community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning), and areas of travel such as Indonesia and the Ukraine, plus the opportunity to sit with others and share your story. Our diversity makes for such a rich tapestry! The heritage of Christian hospitality on which the Beatitudes was built, laid the foundation for this community to be an inclusive culture where all feel supported, valued and appreciated, but it takes every single one of us working together to live that out every day. We are excited for this event and we hope that you will join us in this mission to fulfill our promise! The Diversity and Inclusion Action Council is looking for others who are passionate about this work so if you would like to join the Council or would like more information please call me, Chaplain Peggy Roberts at X16109.*
Brad Breeding of MyLifeSite spends a lot of time travelling around the country, speaking to groups of people about senior living options, including Life Plan Communities such as Beatitudes Campus. During his travels, he mentions that he’s fortunate to meet people who live in these communities, as well as people who may be considering a move to a Life Plan Community or other type of senior living community; it’s always eye-opening to hear the perspectives of both personas.
In conversations that I have with prospective residents, I sometimes hear people say that they are hesitant to move to a retirement community because they aren’t ready yet or don’t want to be around a bunch of “old people,” maybe because they saw a few of the residents using assistive devices, such as walkers or scooters.
I believe I understand the sentiments—conscious or subconscious—that they are voicing.
Lack of diversity vs. fear of aging
For some, what they may really be saying is that they prefer to live in an intergenerational environment, meaning a community with people of all different ages. That’s an understandable wish. Fortunately, even though by definition they are age-qualified, more and more senior living communities are developing intergenerational programs. These initiatives offer numerous benefits to both the residents and the younger generations involved in them.
But for many other seniors who say they don’t want to live with other older people, I can’t help but wonder if on some level, they are saying that they are worried about catching the “old disease.” I’ve even heard people well into their 80s and beyond express that they feel they are too young to move to such a community. Even if it is on a subconscious level, it’s as if they feel that if they’re around people who have experienced physical decline as a result of a health condition or the natural aging process, they too will become older and frailer—like a contagious disease.
A continued lifestyle
For seniors who voice concerns about living among “old people,” perhaps they’ve been fortunate enough to have lived a long and healthy life thus far by remaining active, eating well, AND staying young-at-heart. But does that mean being around other older adults will stifle that? In Brad’s experience visiting nearly a hundred Life Plan Communities, he states that he has not found much evidence of this.
“People who are active and have healthy habits when they move to a Life Plan Community or other senior living community are likely going to remain that way, if not more so. In fact, many residents feel they are far healthier and happier than they would have been otherwise. Are there exceptions? Sure, but in my conversations with Life Plan Community residents across the country I hear far more positives than negatives. This is due, in large part, to the wide variety of ways Life Plan Communities further enable and enhance this active lifestyle among their residents. From fitness classes and wellness centers to healthy menu options; from social gatherings and cultural excursions, to affinity groups and lifelong learning—there are countless (but of course, optional) ways to stay physically active and mentally engaged when you live in a Life Plan Community. Of course, residents are not restricted in any way from doing any of the same things they did previously, such as eating out, travelling, attending dinner parties with friends, etc.
So, for those seniors who are opposed to living in a Life Plan Community or other retirement community because they don’t want to be around other “older people”, isn’t this, on some level, ageism among peers? Or does it speak to a more deep-seated fear and/or disdain of aging that is common among Americans?”
Contempt for growing old
A 2013 Pew Research Center survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults examined people’s views of aging, medical advancements, and life extension. While modern medicine is helping people live longer lives, not everyone views this as a good thing. When survey respondents were asked how long they would like to live:
Less than 10 percent of people were hoping to live to be 100 or older.
20 percent of respondents said they wanted to live into their 90s.
32 percent said they would like to live into their 80s.
30 percent of survey participants said they didn’t want to make it past 80.
Interestingly, on the flipside, this survey also revealed that 41 percent of respondents believed that “having more elderly people in the population” is a positive for society.
I find the results of this survey intriguing. Even though older adults are viewed as a positive force within our country, nearly two-thirds of people in this survey didn’t want to live to be 90. This seems like a fascinating paradox.
When looking at the results of the Pew survey, what I believe so many people are missing in this equation is that age truly is just a number. I do not mean to be naive or deny the changes that come with aging. The fact is that some people come to grips with the realities of aging better than others, but I’ve met many people in their 80s and 90s who are still as healthy and spry as someone three decades their junior. The one common denominator I have found among them is a positive attitude and outlook on life, regardless of the age or physical condition.
Here’s my question: Can we as a society get to a place where a person, regardless of age or physical condition, is embraced as a valuable individual, both for who they are and what they’ve done in life? Can we focus not on age, but on what we can learn from one another, and grow as individuals as a result of our shared experiences?*
Empowered power.
Dosia Carlson & Mim Hoover
Some of the most powerful people I know are living right here at Beatitudes Campus. I stand back in awe of how, when asked to take responsibility for some aspect of our community’s growth, a vision that once seemed grand soon pales in comparison to what the resident(s) actually create. A few weeks back, at the Arizona LeadingAge Conference (an organization that unites non-profit communities like ours), there was a powerful exhibition of purpose, power and empowerment – and it was by our very own Beatitudes Center for Lifelong Learners.
Dosia Carlson and Mim Hoover, with the help of Nell Bennett, who was not able to be present, put together a presentation, aptly titled, Success Story. It wowed the administrators from the other communities who sat in on their workshop. In the workshop, the participants learned how, when residents in a community like ours, are given a task to create, that the sky becomes the only limit, far surpassing what any one staff person could ever create or do. The resident-run, Lifelong Learners Team, have created, not only a success story of a program in terms of number of participants and diversity of class options, but have impacted the lives of almost all those who participate and have been given a sense of purpose in creating excellence.
As I said at the beginning, we have not a resident on Campus who is not gifted with immense power and talent. The true sign of a successful community is how capable is it in empowering its members to be free to use their gifts toward the betterment of the entire community. The ultimate job of administration in a community like ours is to facilitate the freedom to excel, and clear the path for creativity and ingenuity for any resident ready to take our community even further toward our goal.
I can testify for our administration that few things are more gratifying than seeing our residents work together with us to accomplish great things, making our community innovative and on the cutting edge of our field. More and more of you are taking leadership roles and bringing great transformation to us with visions and ideas that we as staff would never come up with. To just name a few – the Environment Committee, the Garden Club, the Recycling Program, our English Language Assistance program, the resident’s Life Enrichment Team who plan our outings and activities and that is just the beginning.
You are leaders and models for senior communities, and I thank you for being a point of pride (and also for letting us boast a bit to our competitors) when it comes to residents with power and purpose lived out.
With the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday still fresh in our hearts and minds, I am reminded of one of the greatest reasons I love being a member of Beatitudes Campus. We are a beautiful tapestry of all different types of people. All unique and unrepeatable in our own ways. Much like our country, we have woven together the best of the best from all sorts of backgrounds, heritages, races, religions, countries, sexual orientations, physical abilities, educational backgrounds and ages.
Did you know we have Beatitudians from a multitude of countries? Even more from faith affiliations other than Christian. Racially, we are the living metaphor of a perfectly woven tapestry with nearly 60% of us identifying as other than Caucasian. We are Democrats, Republicans, Independents and no political affiliations. We are male and female and some who identify with neither. We are young, old and older. We are straight, gay, bi-sexual and transgender. We are single, married, divorced and widowed. We have children with two parents at home, single parents, married without children, grandparents raising grandkids and some of us are happily single forever. We are educated with advanced degrees and some with high school educations only. We speak English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian, French, Romanian and some languages you have yet to hear. We are financially wealthy, middle class, and some of us are just struggling to make ends meet.
Some of us remember every minute of our life and will tell you about it, and some of us have watched those memories slip away, but we can still feel them inside of us even if we cannot tell you about them now. We walk unassisted, with canes, with walkers and use mobile chairs to get to where we want to go. Not a person in this community is valued anymore or any less for who we are. It does not matter where we live on campus, which department we work in, whether we are staff, resident or administration, we are all equal.
What makes it even more beautiful is that we continue to weave more diversity into our tapestry whenever the opportunity is available to us. We yearn for new threads to be incorporated into our growing cloth. We know our diversity is one of our greatest strengths as a community. As a Campus, we come from a faith heritage that sees every child of God as that unique, beautiful, unrepeatable and loved beyond love creation. How can we not see our coming together as a community as anything less than the most beautiful as all of the different threads of our histories and heritages come together?
So want to see something beautiful? Just look around you and see all of the amazing people who make up Beatitudes Campus. And they see you as beautiful as well. It doesn’t get more beautiful than this.
Every summer, my husband’s young cousin comes to Arizona from Pennsylvania for several weeks to visit all our family. She always wants to be outside (she loves the heat) and hiking is one of her favorite activities. Luckily, I happen to live at the base of South Mountain and beautiful trails await within walking distance of our front door.
Last Sunday, we decided to take her on a beautiful and pretty strenuous track, the Holbert Trail, up to the Dobbins Lookout point. We left around 5:00AM for this 5.35 mile round trip hike and we climbed the equivalent of over 100 flights of stairs on our journey to the top. What stays with me most about this hike was not the heat, the huffing and puffing, the fear of slip-sliding off the unending switchbacks that lace the way to the top, but it was the people we encountered and the small microcosm of the world that they represented in my backyard.
I could not believe the variety of people we passed – black, white, Hispanic, Native, Indian, Somalian, married couples, dating couples, interracial couples, people with their children, siblings, best friends, huge extended family groupings…it was amazing to witness all this diversity in a short two hour period. So what were we all doing? Enjoying God’s splendor, exercising our bodies, and greeting each other warmly. This hike became more than a moving meditation for me, it became a spiritual journey.
I began to wonder, if we can all come together on a Sunday morning to enjoy each other and ourselves in this mountainous space, why can’t we do it on the streets? In our neighborhoods? Our cities? There is so much hate and fear and aggression in our world today. I knew that I was experiencing something that transcended all the issues in our world today and that there still is so much love, goodness and peace in our society.
Later I came across Psalm 81:13, “Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways” (New American Standard Bible) and I knew that is what I experienced on Sunday. We were walking in His way, the way that people of the Christian faith should strive for, and it was a beautiful thing. It gives me hope that our society will find its way through this dark period of senseless violence and we will learn to celebrate all things we have in common which are much more numerous than the ways in which we are different. Have a wonderful week!
I can’t get it out of my mind. It haunts me. It is likely not one of us here at Beatitudes Campus, either resident or staff, has not been affected by the events in Orlando last weekend. One wishes that such brutality and terror were only in the movies. But not even a movie can portray the horror of what we all witnessed. It is impossible to comprehend what the victims and witnesses were facing as the sick and demented soul made his way through the nightclub shooting and killing unceasingly.
The horrible irony is that the people who gathered in that club on that night, like millions of other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people did in their own communities, did so because it was there that they felt safe, secure, accepted and uniquely free to be just as they are – unlike almost any other gathering area in the United States. It is at such clubs, for the moments they are open, that a genuine sense of community exists for those who have no other community, even if they live and sleep in their various neighborhoods and cities.
For everywhere else there is fear of judgment, condemnation, retribution, and physical, psychological and mental abuse by the public around them. On that night they were to be safe and away from the potential harm they have to endure on a daily basis that is inflicted upon them by faith communities, politicians, television pundits and, too often, neighbors and family. What shakes the gay community to the ground is the fear that there are no safe places any more.
When I think of community, I think of my community—Beatitudes Campus. Since coming here, I have had only one agenda: help create a community where all are received and accepted just as they are, and valued as unique and unrepeatable creations. I believe that to be the one and only goal of true community. In our society, elders are often relegated to the sidelines in condescending ways, but not here. We respect each other, value each other, and care for each other as equals. We may have different colors of our skin, opposing political viewpoints, competing faith traditions, innumerable levels of physical and mental abilities, various sexual orientations and gender identity concepts. But those do not matter in this community, other than they are beautiful characteristics of our whole community.
The reality is that the Beatitudes Community has the opportunity to show the rest of the world what it is to live, not just tolerating each other, but truly accepting and embracing one another. I believe what we are creating in our community will be a model for the larger community around us to discover and learn about living in peace and harmony with one other in a world that clearly does not understand how it is to be done.
It is a fact that one of the most frightening possibilities for senior gay people today is having to move into a community like ours. The fear of rejection, discrimination and having to go back into “the closet” just to survive is beyond too painful a possibility to have to consider. I am grateful that we proclaim our acceptance of all people proudly and deliberately to the LGBT community, as also evidenced in Our Promise. We know we are all one and the same.
Perhaps, more than ever, it is important for us to try to understand and learn more about each other here and those who might be coming to our Campus in the future. Study other religions, learn about other cultures, listen to a neighbor who is now dependent upon assistive devices to move around, befriend a person of a different sexual orientation or gender identity and look at the world through their eyes. Dare to do this and see how your life might be changed for the better, and watch how our community will grow stronger with a love and acceptance that I believe there is not a one of us here who doesn’t yearn for that deep inside. When you hear or witness discussions or actions that are denigrating or exclusionary of others, find the courage to stop them, because it is only destroying a community that I believe is meant to be a model for all others.
Some may know and some may not, but I am gay and proud of who I am after decades of trying to deny who I am. Some may say I am biased as I write this. I will always believe I am just working to help create a community that aspires to the dream of God for all peoples as I long to be part of a community who will accept me, and people like me and all others. For I, too, crave to be able to walk in a community where I won’t feel people looking at me and talking about me when I am with my partner. I am tired of the shouts coming from a passing car calling me a “fag” and worse. I hunger for a time when I, or my friends like me, don’t have to always have it in the back of our minds, “are we safe here?” like we have to today. I want to know there will be a safe community for me when the day comes that I want to live in a Beatitudes Campus type of community.
So I ask my community to please commit to making our community safe and loving for everyone. Let’s work together to make this the model that it so easily can be. Your grandchildren and great grandchildren, nephews and nieces will remember you as trailblazers for teaching this world how to be a better world and showing them what true community is all about. For we are all one and the same. *
Respectfully,
Rev. David W. Ragan
Our Promise
Beatitudes Campus is a not-for-profit ministry of Church of the Beatitudes, a United Church of Christ congregation. Our heritage of Christian hospitality calls us to welcome all people. This includes outreach to Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and other faiths, as well as those with no connection to a faith community. We value the diversity of all – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. Core values of compassion, respect, accountability and excellence drive every aspect of our community, and are what have made Beatitudes Campus a strong and respected leader in retirement living for 50 years.
