AN INVITATION

We invite you to an open forum on how to make the most of a gift of 25 to 30 active years added to the lives of most of us who’ve made it into a new millennium.

So far, no model, technology, data bank, or opinion poll has been created to help us meet this challenge. All we have to start from are a few strong assumptions.

For us, the big issues around longevity aren’t about aging or elder care or secure “retirement.” Instead, we see in this newfound legacy a huge potential of human ingenuity, experience, and vitality. How well we learn to use it will have profound consequences for all ages of our society.

Our first aim is to help people focus on and appreciate the enormity of this legacy, and then get a sense of the epic change it will introduce.

• How do we transform most of the institutions, traditions, and habits of human activity we count on or care about so they will serve us well over four generations rather than just two or three?
• How do we the people–and the institutions and communities of interest with which we identify–adapt to the reality of work lives spanning 60 years or more?
• How do we assure that the mature third of our population will be, on balance, a beneficial asset rather than a liability?

We believe the answers lie in five essentials for human advancement: good health and well-being, lifelong learning, contributive work, commitment to vital social priorities, and serious civic engagement.

We also insist that much of the progress in these arenas can and must originate with the over-50 population. Maturity is no time to quit or be pushed aside from wise, contributive connection to chosen or newly discovered communities of interest.

What’s ahead is what matters. What’s ahead for us is an added chance to create and enjoy a more abundant and compassionate society. What a heartening possibility.

So, please join our conversation at www.perpetualdiscovery.net.

Thank you.