“I Like to Listen”: The Need for Eldership in Challenging Times

Nader Shabahangi shares an op-ed piece on his thoughts about how growing Eldership can have a positive impact in our challenging times.

Excerpt from California Voices on California Health Report here:

Eldership.

Eldership is a role all of us can inhabit when called upon. It is the two year-old at the kitchen table reminding the parents that they are fighting while eating. It is the young adult standing up and letting the manager know workers are hurting. It is the middle adult who calms the temperament of two people about to get into a fight.

Since becoming older does not automatically create an elder – it does not automatically create the skills needed for eldership – we often need to acquire them. We learn to understand how people communicate, connect with one another, exchange experience and knowledge, and feel heard.

Read the whole piece here at CalHealthReport.org (the California Health Report website.)