{"id":38747,"date":"2024-10-09T14:35:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T21:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38747"},"modified":"2024-10-10T18:46:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T01:46:12","slug":"what-about-the-least-of-these","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-about-the-least-of-these\/","title":{"rendered":"What about the least of these?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On Saturday, a small crowd gathered to celebrate my grandma’s life. She died five weeks before her 94th <\/sup>birthday. Those gathered to celebrate her life were at least 15 years younger than her. She was the last in her circle of friends and family members from her generation. I am privileged to have known my grandma for 40 years. She was my last grandparent to die, but one of three of my grandparents to have lived to or past 90 years. For their generation, they had unusually long and healthy lives.<\/p>\n

According to Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott\u2019s book The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, <\/em>my grandma\u2019s long life is becoming less of a rarity as life expectancy increases. Over half of the children born today are expected to live to or beyond 105 years.[1]<\/a> The 100-Year Life<\/em> addresses some of the complexities behind people living longer lives. These include shifts in traditional stages of life, the need to be ready for change, financial and health implications, and the psychosocial impact on individuals, corporations, and society facing longer life expectancy. A theme woven throughout the book is the need to be flexible, adaptable, and ready to change with changing times.<\/p>\n

The 100-Year Life<\/em> was practical and fun to read. It answered or affirmed several of my questions and concerns about living into my 90s, which I have asked in the past solely based on my family\u2019s genetics. I was pleased to learn that there is potential for a decrease in morbidity with an extended life span.[2]<\/a> As a healthcare provider who sees worst-case scenarios, this is a big fear of mine. I was thrilled to get 100% on the \u201cBig 5\u201d financial questions.[3]<\/a> I just learned two of the answers this past year. It was encouraging to see that, according to Gratton and Scott, I am on an excellent trajectory to support a long life.<\/p>\n

The book affirmed some of my lifestyle choices and, at the same time, elicited many questions and concerns about society in a 100-year life. There were many directions I could have taken with this blog.<\/p>\n

Transition: How will society adjust to a life with multiple transition phases? What could we learn about this through William Bridge\u2019s transitional model?[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Personal calling: Since we will live and work longer, it is vital to do that in our \u201csweet spot,” as Tom Camacho encourages, allowing us to live a full life in our God-designed calling.[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Non-anxious leaders: As society shifts and changes, non-anxious leaders will be essential. We will need ready and willing leaders to do new and hard things against the status quo. What could we apply from Freidman\u2019s leadership principles in A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>?<\/p>\n

These are all topics I would like to explore and compare in more depth. For this blog, I chose to examine the issue of the effect of a longer life for the least in society. Gratton and Scott briefly mention the rich-poor discrepancy in which the wealthy live longer than those in poverty.[6]<\/a> Their perspective seems to come from a Western context as they conclude that life at the 100-year age will be seen worldwide, with low-middle-income countries further behind.[7]<\/a> This triggered many questions concerning those in low-middle-income countries:<\/p>\n

How far behind will their life expectancy change?<\/p>\n

In what ways will changes in the West affect those countries still combating significant national poverty?<\/p>\n

As the Western world changes and adapts to a longer lifespan and different life stages, how will that affect other societies that need to maintain a more traditional trajectory of the 3-stage education, work, and retirement model?<\/p>\n

I have some assumptions and speculations about this based on my experience living in Africa. I agree that life expectancy is increasing even in the poorest countries, but it is prolonged, and I am skeptical that it will reach 100 in developing nations. Without a significant change in worldwide efforts to combat poverty, I cannot imagine a majority of the children in my country or similar countries who survive childhood reaching their 80s, let alone their 90s or 100s. Because of this, I think some countries and societies will continue the 3-stage model due to lower life expectancy and morbidity. The contradictions between high-income and middle-low-income countries will continue expanding, not just on a slower path.<\/p>\n

This has left me in an unexpected conundrum. The 100-Year Life<\/em> was helpful for my personal life application, but how will the long lives of the West affect my friends and colleagues in Africa? Will the Western world focus so much on its societal changes that it will become even more removed from those in less privileged environments? As I prepare my personal affairs for a potentially long life, how do I reconcile that most of my African neighbors are projected to die 20 or more years before me? How can I continue to bridge the gap between these two worlds that seem to drift further and further apart?<\/p>\n

My conclusion is to continue being a searcher and a learner, attempting to be flexible and adaptable as I steward my life, health, finances, and calling. As my grandma entered her 90s, she often said, \u201cHe (God) must not be ready for me yet.\u201d So, I will ask, \u201cDo the decisions I am making today show that I am trusting in the Sovereign God and seeking His purpose for me here on earth?\u201d<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity<\/em>, E-book (London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020), 1.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Gratton and Scott, The 100-Year Life, <\/em>23.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Gratton and Scott, The 100-Year Life,<\/em>\u00a0161.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cBridges Transition Model,\u201d William Bridges Associates, accessed October 9, 2024, https:\/\/wmbridges.com\/about\/what-is-transition\/.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders Through Coaching<\/em>, Kindle ed (London, England: InterVarsity Press, 2019), 98.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Gratton and Scott, The 100-Year Life, 233.<\/em><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Gratton and Scott, The 100-Year Life, 20.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, a small crowd gathered to celebrate my grandma’s life. She died five weeks before her 94th birthday. Those gathered to celebrate her life were at least 15 years younger than her. She was the last in her circle of friends and family members from her generation. I am privileged to have known my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3205,2967],"class_list":["post-38747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gratton","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38750,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38747\/revisions\/38750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}