July’s Kol Ami Positive Aging Blog
by Harriet Epstein
Dear Readers:
When Susan Freiband and I envisioned offering Kol Ami a monthly blog about positive aging, we had all kinds of ideas for educational and fun articles. Little did we anticipate that within two months, the world, as we knew it, would completely end, with no clues about when, if ever, life would be the same, or even somewhat the same. The Covid 19 virus pandemic took the world by surprise, sporting all sorts of weird, nasty symptoms, and rapidly killing people everywhere. If you have suffered the loss of loved ones, my deepest sympathy. If you contracted the virus and survived, there may still be a period of long-term recovery. If nursing homes and assisted living facilities turned out to be hotbeds of the virus instead of safe havens for older people, and being isolated has become not merely too quiet, but lonely and depressing – so have many others. And to add to the confusion and misery, we have subsequently witnessed the racially motivated killing of George Floyd, and other innocent black Americans, mainly perpetrated by white police officers, followed by nationwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations engendering a combination of empathy, concerns about antisemitism, and conflicting efforts to improve our world.
I wish I were a miracle worker who could take this all away, or find something helpful to say to enable us to continue bravely forward. But, truth to tell, I am looking for such assistance for myself as well as for you. On June 21 of this year, Parade Magazine listed a number of ideas suggested by longevity experts to help people live longer and healthier. Some of these ideas also seemed good for fighting the double whammy of the Virus and systemic hatred. So I am stealing, rewording, and combining some of these and adding a few ideas of my own. I still have a long way to go to follow all of them, but I’m trying.
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Phone: 571-336-5544
Rabbi's Study: 202-364-3006
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
4444 Arlington Blvd.
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Arlington, VA 22204
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