In our culture, we really do not like to think about end of life, however inevitable it is. But like so many other stages of life, understanding and preparation can make a real difference. In Being Mortal, Atul Gawunde offers us a series of examples of real peoples' experiences - a series of cautionary tales - that lay out the challenges and pitfalls, but also provides some profoundly helpful suggestions. While we can't hope to "fix" old age, we can hope to manage it in order to maximize autonomy and meaningful satisfactions. This advice is obviously meaningful to those of us in our later years, but is also potentially of great value to younger people who may be in a position of caring for aging parents. Nancy Roeder and Jim Dealing are proposing a four-session discussion during January and February (probably after Sunday services.) They need to know how much interest there is and how many books to order. Please contact either of them directly. |