"How do you define strength?" This is such an important question, and as you note, the answer can be different for all of us. Does our strength lie in our "resilience, " in our physical core, or in the core of who we are as a person and our ability to speak out about those values. Husband and I have been building our bodily strength after joining a rock climbing gym almost a year ago. At ages 75 and 69, we are both enjoying this new physical and mental challenge. We are getting stronger, and, if you have a magnifying glass you might even be able to see the teensy two-pack I am developing under my bra. It's nice, it feels good.
But I am finding that the other kind of strength -- the kind needed to push my neighbors to imagine a world that allows all of us to be who we are, eat good food, live in safety, have access to medical care and education rather than be satisfied staying within their own comfy, status quo -- can be more challenging than scaling that 45 foot wall. After all, climbing feels pretty safe when I know the guy at the other end of the rope will always and forever hold me up.
"How do you define strength?" This is such an important question, and as you note, the answer can be different for all of us. Does our strength lie in our "resilience, " in our physical core, or in the core of who we are as a person and our ability to speak out about those values. Husband and I have been building our bodily strength after joining a rock climbing gym almost a year ago. At ages 75 and 69, we are both enjoying this new physical and mental challenge. We are getting stronger, and, if you have a magnifying glass you might even be able to see the teensy two-pack I am developing under my bra. It's nice, it feels good.
But I am finding that the other kind of strength -- the kind needed to push my neighbors to imagine a world that allows all of us to be who we are, eat good food, live in safety, have access to medical care and education rather than be satisfied staying within their own comfy, status quo -- can be more challenging than scaling that 45 foot wall. After all, climbing feels pretty safe when I know the guy at the other end of the rope will always and forever hold me up.