thegreatstory | Boomers 02: "Legacy Pledge" for seniors (pt 2 of 2), April 2020 @thegreatstory | Uploaded April 2020 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
The last half of a 2-part April 2020 posting by Connie Barlow. A "Legacy Pledge" for and by seniors: "Boomers and Beyond." The pledge is a way for ""Turning fear of this pandemic into calm, and crisis into generosity, by insisting on palliative care at home and/or saying no to ICU medical interventions."
A time-coded list of topics follows. But first, make sure you have watched Part 1, the background section of the Legacy Pledge, at: youtu.be/BTJ3OVNiP7k
00:06 - INTRODUCTION by Barlow, who is 68 years old, begins with her review of the Part 1 video in this two-part series, which is here: youtu.be/BTJ3OVNiP7k . She then outlines the 3 sections of this Part 2, which is her own sample pledge: Preamble, Pledge, and Plea.
"As seniors, we need to be outspoken about our capacity, responsibility, and desire to have agency in this. This is not about our society 'sacrificing' seniors. This is about seniors themselves, one by one, saying, 'This is how I want to act in this time of societal crisis, and I have an opportunity to make a gift that I can do joyfully.'"
02:55 - Barlow explains that the Preamble of her personal pledge is grounded in the experience of her own ancestors "achieving natural and timely deaths." The core of her own pledge is to say no to any medical intervention except palliative care — ideally at home; no hospitalization. The "Plea" section of her pledge is "how I hope my pledge will be received" (by family and others).
04:05 - Why the "ancestors" and personal experience sections of the pledge are important for touching the emotions of those who read the pledge — and for assuring hospital staff that one's expression of values and determination are so solid that there is no possibility that a disappointed family member could launch a viable malpractice suit.
06:25 - PART 1: PREAMBLE - Connie recites this section of her own pledge. Topics include her explanation of "the Age of Exuberance" and boomers as the "main beneficiaries." Her personal experience of the pre-vaccine fear of polio in her pre-Kindergarten years, but how pre-vaccine "measles, mumps, and chickenpox" were accepted as necessary for all children to catch while they were still young enough to almost always survive unharmed.
12:29 - Barlow's recitation of her family history because: "I have direct experience of elders choosing timely natural deaths. I have thus been mentored in approaching the final stage of life."
19:30 - PART 2: THE PLEDGE - (no hospitalization; only palliative care)
20:14 - PART 3: THE PLEA: "I, Connie Barlow, plea that my family and friends (and medical personnel who may become involved) will respect my solemn pledge and thereby do their utmost to ensure that my wish to remain unhospitalized is honored. Non-mechanized forms of comfort support will be welcomed if I appear to be in need while unable to communicate. And my plea to all: Grant me in turn this simple gift: Please remember me as one who hereby earned her place as an elder."
21:40 - "Fish Meditative Moment" - video of Steelhead Trout in stream, witnessed by Connie the previous day.
22:15 - Connie introduces the two appendices that comprise the final half-hour.
24:47 - Appendix 1 - audio extract (2 minutes) from 25 years ago of elders remembering Connie's maternal grandfather from Hungary.
28:10 - Appendix 2 - extract (24 minutes) of Connie's 2011 video-blog: "Death, Budgets, and Generational Justice." The original 31-minute video: youtu.be/PdhNIqE7M80
41:01 - Connie advocates for a "revolution" by boomers for medical "generational justice."
43:00 - Inspirational story of an assisted elder death.
44:43 - Conclusion: SIX RECOMMENDATIONS
45:00 - STEP 1: Seek out a spiritually fulfilling way to embrace death, rather than fight or fear it.
46:10 - STEP 2: Do not wait for middle or old age to begin your own spiritual work of embracing your own inevitable death and the deaths of those you love.
47:23 - STEP 3: Extend your sense of self as you age — to your descendants, to the generations to come, and to the larger body of life.
48:21 - STEP 4: Attend (with gusto) to your legacy throughout your middle and later years.
49:03 - STEP 5: Seek out opportunities to share your death-friendly perspective and to evoke compassionate listening of the perspectives and stories of others.
50:05 - STEP 6: Take a deep dive into reconsidering the dance between individual rights and broader responsibilities in the death and dying process and in advanced care for the elderly.
For the original TEXT VERSION of the background and sample Legacy Pledge:
thegreatstory.org/covid-legacy-pledge.html
CONNIE BARLOW: annotated list of her science-writing publications, environmental advocacy, children's curricula, religious naturalism perspective, and a large list of her youtube videos:
thegreatstory.org/CB-writings.html
Barlow is also a volunteer video-editor for the POST-DOOM CONVERSATION SERIES:
postdoom.com
The last half of a 2-part April 2020 posting by Connie Barlow. A "Legacy Pledge" for and by seniors: "Boomers and Beyond." The pledge is a way for ""Turning fear of this pandemic into calm, and crisis into generosity, by insisting on palliative care at home and/or saying no to ICU medical interventions."
A time-coded list of topics follows. But first, make sure you have watched Part 1, the background section of the Legacy Pledge, at: youtu.be/BTJ3OVNiP7k
00:06 - INTRODUCTION by Barlow, who is 68 years old, begins with her review of the Part 1 video in this two-part series, which is here: youtu.be/BTJ3OVNiP7k . She then outlines the 3 sections of this Part 2, which is her own sample pledge: Preamble, Pledge, and Plea.
"As seniors, we need to be outspoken about our capacity, responsibility, and desire to have agency in this. This is not about our society 'sacrificing' seniors. This is about seniors themselves, one by one, saying, 'This is how I want to act in this time of societal crisis, and I have an opportunity to make a gift that I can do joyfully.'"
02:55 - Barlow explains that the Preamble of her personal pledge is grounded in the experience of her own ancestors "achieving natural and timely deaths." The core of her own pledge is to say no to any medical intervention except palliative care — ideally at home; no hospitalization. The "Plea" section of her pledge is "how I hope my pledge will be received" (by family and others).
04:05 - Why the "ancestors" and personal experience sections of the pledge are important for touching the emotions of those who read the pledge — and for assuring hospital staff that one's expression of values and determination are so solid that there is no possibility that a disappointed family member could launch a viable malpractice suit.
06:25 - PART 1: PREAMBLE - Connie recites this section of her own pledge. Topics include her explanation of "the Age of Exuberance" and boomers as the "main beneficiaries." Her personal experience of the pre-vaccine fear of polio in her pre-Kindergarten years, but how pre-vaccine "measles, mumps, and chickenpox" were accepted as necessary for all children to catch while they were still young enough to almost always survive unharmed.
12:29 - Barlow's recitation of her family history because: "I have direct experience of elders choosing timely natural deaths. I have thus been mentored in approaching the final stage of life."
19:30 - PART 2: THE PLEDGE - (no hospitalization; only palliative care)
20:14 - PART 3: THE PLEA: "I, Connie Barlow, plea that my family and friends (and medical personnel who may become involved) will respect my solemn pledge and thereby do their utmost to ensure that my wish to remain unhospitalized is honored. Non-mechanized forms of comfort support will be welcomed if I appear to be in need while unable to communicate. And my plea to all: Grant me in turn this simple gift: Please remember me as one who hereby earned her place as an elder."
21:40 - "Fish Meditative Moment" - video of Steelhead Trout in stream, witnessed by Connie the previous day.
22:15 - Connie introduces the two appendices that comprise the final half-hour.
24:47 - Appendix 1 - audio extract (2 minutes) from 25 years ago of elders remembering Connie's maternal grandfather from Hungary.
28:10 - Appendix 2 - extract (24 minutes) of Connie's 2011 video-blog: "Death, Budgets, and Generational Justice." The original 31-minute video: youtu.be/PdhNIqE7M80
41:01 - Connie advocates for a "revolution" by boomers for medical "generational justice."
43:00 - Inspirational story of an assisted elder death.
44:43 - Conclusion: SIX RECOMMENDATIONS
45:00 - STEP 1: Seek out a spiritually fulfilling way to embrace death, rather than fight or fear it.
46:10 - STEP 2: Do not wait for middle or old age to begin your own spiritual work of embracing your own inevitable death and the deaths of those you love.
47:23 - STEP 3: Extend your sense of self as you age — to your descendants, to the generations to come, and to the larger body of life.
48:21 - STEP 4: Attend (with gusto) to your legacy throughout your middle and later years.
49:03 - STEP 5: Seek out opportunities to share your death-friendly perspective and to evoke compassionate listening of the perspectives and stories of others.
50:05 - STEP 6: Take a deep dive into reconsidering the dance between individual rights and broader responsibilities in the death and dying process and in advanced care for the elderly.
For the original TEXT VERSION of the background and sample Legacy Pledge:
thegreatstory.org/covid-legacy-pledge.html
CONNIE BARLOW: annotated list of her science-writing publications, environmental advocacy, children's curricula, religious naturalism perspective, and a large list of her youtube videos:
thegreatstory.org/CB-writings.html
Barlow is also a volunteer video-editor for the POST-DOOM CONVERSATION SERIES:
postdoom.com
