Passing the Baton
Last week in his commencement speech at Arizona State University, Harrison Ford declared that “his generation” has left the world today’s college graduates are entering “a real mess.”
With all due respect to Mr. Ford, I take (at least partial) exception to that decree.
Since the beginning of time, civilization—and humankind—has been a sort of relay race, with each generation passing the baton to the next to carry it forward.
And, as is the case with a relay race, civilization’s position can change dramatically throughout the race, depending on the circumstances.
Perhaps the baton exchange from one runner to the next did not go smoothly. Perhaps one of the runners was jostled—or tripped and fell. Perhaps the baton was dropped altogether.
The fact is it is extremely difficult to run a perfect race, because athletes are not running it alone. They are reliant on the skills, talents, and experience of others—their teammates.
And THAT’s where it can all fall apart.
Yes, our world today is a “real mess.” But it’s not because of the actions—or inaction—of one particular generation or another.
The truth is WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
Case in point: according to Dr. Ken Dychtwald, gerontologist and CEO of AgeWave (and one of the world’s brightest minds on the subject of aging), two-thirds of the people who—IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD—have ever lived to be 65 ARE ALIVE TODAY.
That’s because, as humans have passed the baton from one generation to the next, advances have been made in research, science, technology, etc. which have enabled people to live longer, healthier lives.
And yet, despite these advances, we find an increasingly large segment of our current population questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccinations, even though we can see in real time, how NOT vaccinating our children and ourselves is detrimental to our own—and the public’s—health.
While we haven’t dropped the baton completely, we definitely seemed to have loosened our grip on it.
The same can be said for advances we’ve made in human rights: For people living in poverty. For BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+, and other historically marginalized groups. For older adults. For Jews.
The progress (as limited for some as it admittedly has been) these groups have come to embrace, expect, and rely on over the past 100 years now appears to be losing momentum to the point where civilization seems to be not only falling behind, but actually moving backward.
So since May is Older Americans Month—coincidentally, a time when thousands of younger adults are graduating from college and finally entering “the real world”—I am dedicating this post to them, the older adults of the future.
My message:
OUR WORLD NEEDS YOU. HUMANKIND NEEDS YOU.
Do your due diligence.
Ask questions.
Think critically.
Know the facts—the ACTUAL facts.
Keep learning.
Get involved.
VOTE. In fact, don’t just vote, RUN FOR OFFICE.
Use technology—including AI—for GOOD.
View your mistakes not as setbacks, but as lessons.
If you fall—or fail—get up and try again.
Pursue your passions.
READ.
Get out of your comfort zone.
Make your bed.
Be open to new ideas, new people, and new experiences.
Recognize that sometimes, the lesser of two evils is the best choice you can make.
Listen to understand, rather than to respond.
Take care of your bodies, hearts, and minds.
Don’t just follow the crowd, unless you where they’re headed—and that’s where you want to go.
Respect your elders—because THEY will be YOU someday.
And then, when it’s your turn to pass the baton, do so with the confidence that you’ve done your part to leave the world a better place than you found it.
So that the next leg of the relay can be run from the front, rather than from behind.