FORETHOUGHT

The Rev. Seth Raymond, Rector, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Forethought offers a reflective foundation for each day’s encounter with perhaps new and challenging ideas . This ‘listening to’, ‘feeding upon’ and ‘resting in’ thoughtful shared time is an ancient sacred practice which can lead from the hearing of a few words to a deeper understanding of the themes of the day to follow.

As a new day begins —

Open hearts, minds and spirits to ideas time-honored and new as the changing times. Draw from poetry, well-remembered words and well-springs of inner wisdom. Take time to look ahead.

OF PERILS AND POSSIBILITIES
Speaker: Anne Basting, Ph.D.

We cannot airbrush the threats facing older America at Quarter-century. 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day. For the first time in American history, “the old old” – those over 85 – are now the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Medical advances have enabled an unprecedented number of Americans to live longer, healthier lives. But, for millions of older Americans, living longer can also mean physical and cognitive challenges, loneliness, financial instability, and social disorientation in communities shredded by discord. Our communities are still largely unprepared for the changing population, but with imagination, we can shape a shared vision for shifts that can significantly improve the experience of late life. Old and young, together we are called to join in a reconsideration of core questions about how we age.

Basting wrestles with some of the key challenges in being older in the United States, while inviting us to imagine opportunities to enhance the journey of aging, both personally and systemically. From transportation to technology, from education to health and social care systems. How might we reimagine systems that seem intractable? What does leadership look like in one’s 80s? 90s? 100s? How can a sense of purpose transform daily life? How might cross- generational and cross-ability friendships sharpen the minds and reshape experiences of aging adults? What will it take to shape a future of promise, surprise and curiosity for older adults?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Examine challenges facing many older Americans in the 21st Century.
• Understand both medical and social dimensions of population growth among older adults.
• Explore core issues communities must address as the older population grows.
• Describe a practical vision for paradigm shifts that promise improvements in the lived experience of older adults.

POOR, SICK AND IN PRISON
Speaker: Lawrence Bartley

Is Death-by-Incarceration the “new normal” for aging prisoners? There is bipartisan agreement that the criminal justice system needs reform. Reports nationwide have shown that it perpetuates racial and economic inequities, costs taxpayers billions of dollars a year and is toxic to those it incarcerates. Police, courts and prisons are repositories of the very crises they are expected but ill-equipped to handle, including mental illness, addiction and poverty, as well as aging itself. Further the nation’s prisons are facing staffing shortages. Thousands of older people occupy bed space in maximum security prisons, although the recidivism rate for people older than 65 is close to zero. After decades of mandatory sentencing laws and reductions in parole, the number of aging inmates in our prisons has increased dramatically with no model for sustained geriatric care. The scope and severity of the problem is unprecedented, but some see it as a watershed in the treatment of older people in prison. This session reveals what this means for incarcerated people, their families and the corrections staff tasked with making prisons run.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Summarize the aging prison crisis nationwide.
• Identify the consequences of health inequity and neglect, high costs and staffing shortages for the increasing aging incarcerated population.
• Assess the causes of the increase of the aging adult prison population.
• Explore a range of proposed solutions to the surge in the older adult census in prison in the United States.

PAIN AND BEAUTY: AGING AS CREATIVE PROCESS
Speaker: David Southward, Ph.D.

This presentation explores the challenges of aging in two films about artists: Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (2014) and Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory (2019). Each of their respective protagonists suffers a late-life creative block that hinders his progress in love, art and self-acceptance. A close look at the climactic scene of each film, in which the protagonists confront (and make peace with?) a pain that plagues them, will spark discussion of how art and beauty serve human development and help one to accept the suffering that comes with age.

Behind the glamorous backdrop and saccharine settings of Hollywood lies a narcissistic notion of ageing. This is not to imply that contemporary mainstream movies never attempt to portray old age with candor and delight, but rather that such representations are often lacking in substance, depth and complex interrogation of what it means to grow old within (Western-influenced) cultures that seem to advocate a never-ending pursuit of agelessness.

A handful of films (without intending to disregard any others that may be concerned with the same gerontological discourse) serve to challenge this ageist, mainstream monologue within a conversation that requires more critical thought.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Perceive and interpret thematic parallels between films and in shared experience.
• Explore the relationship between suffering and beauty in the experience of aging individuals.

PUTTING THE SPOTLIGHT ON ELDER ABUSE – A CRIME TOO OFTEN COMMITTED IN THE SHADOWS
Speaker: Paul Greenwood, J.D.

Research shows that at least one in 10 older adults experience some form of maltreatment each year — and this is likely an undercount, because only one in 14 cases is reported. People who experience abuse have higher rates of depression, hospitalization and institutionalization — and they are more likely to die prematurely. They also may experience deteriorated family relationships, diminished autonomy and institutionalization as the direct result of maltreatment.

This session will emphasize the fact that the escalating tide of such crimes has to be met by a coordinated effort from the whole community. Greenwood will demonstrate how education, prevention, investigation and prosecution can work to send a powerful message to potential predators of such abuse. He will provide case examples to show the importance of a multi-disciplinary team approach involving local, county, state and federal partners, various misconceptions that often hinder the successful investigation and prosecution of such crimes and practical suggestions on how to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of various types of fraud as well as the ways that fraudsters are using artificial intelligence to induce victims to part with their life savings.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Appreciate the prevalence and impact of elder abuse among older adults.
• Understand the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to countering abuse.
• Mount a counter-offensive to misconceptions which often hinder investigation and prosecution of offenses.
• Use practical strategies to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of various types of fraud.