Who Shall Survive

[Adam Blatner]

Dear Regina,
        Sociometry may also extend in a subtle way to the intuitive feelings of who is valuable, who do we need---similar to the lifeboat exercise. It's not always a matter of ordinary sociotele or psychetele. So this paragraph of yours especially intrigued me: 
         RS: The point is, the way power in society is distributed has an impact on who shall survive.  In the exercise I do in class (I haven't even updated it to include really old people or people with diabetes or people with lupus or whatever...)  the retarded boy, the guy who has engaged in homosexual behavior, the nun and the 60 + year old doctor ALWAYS die.  And 40 may be the new 30 to us, but to 18 year old college students in Ohio, 40 is OLD - especially if you are female.
          
         Being a 60+ year old doctor--- this shocks me, since in some ways I feel I'm more productive than ever. It intrigues my alertness to the issue of ageism. I suspect that there is very little awareness of what life can be life as people shift from flower (ordinary maturity) to ripe fruit (deep maturity). I invite you and others to see the lecture series I'm giving at present to my lifelong learning program, titled "Deep Maturity."  http://www.blatner.com/adam/consctransf/deepmaturity/1-introduction.html
          
        What is usefulness in our culture? I confess that I find many young people far from being high-potential. Of course there are many cases of losers who have turned their lives around. But I'm intrigued with the perception that being not-particularly-generative or useful seems to increase with age.
      I just live around a bunch of folks who are active in the community and giving back in many meaningful ways. 

           Thanks for your other thoughtful points, too. Warmly, Adam
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