This year as of 29 July, I will have inhabited this earth and sky and seas for 70 years. I’ve led an adventurous life that’s produced books full of stories.
I remember when personal computers were new and exciting technology.
I’ve created a home in at least fifteen different neighborhoods of the San Francisco Bay Area and in Washington, DC.
I’ve traveled throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Italy seduced my soul. Four African countries – Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, and Rwanda – are lodged indelibly in my mind and heart.
In my lifetime, sixteen genocides have desecrated the human landscape – after we’d solemnly promised ‘never again.’ I studied in depth only two of these cataclysms: Rwanda and Sudan. Two was more than enough exposure to the darkest human impulses that have cost the planet nearly 10 million souls.
Blooming late, I created and manage an organization, Women’s Centers International, from my heart’s mandate to help unleash the power of all women. Our biggest battles are yet to be won: control of our own bodies, freedom from sexual violence, parity in pay, and elimination of exploitative images in the media.
The revolt worth supporting is rising among those with not far to fall: the poor. Women who grew up that way or were downed by a twist of fate, who subsist on starchy foods in second-hand clothes and love their kids and scramble too damn hard to keep them fed and clothed and educated.
There’s nothing noble in poverty. There is, however, great power in poverty-honed instincts for survival.
I’ve become a woman in a hurry with a lot to do in much less time than I’ve already lived. Curiosity drives me. I know very quickly when I’m with someone whose energy inspires exuberance.
I despise the word ‘senior.’ I plan never to be a ‘retiree.’ I’m an Elder, a designation that implies wisdom; it’s what comes of surviving long and well enough.
Despite abundant evidence to the contrary, I remain optimistic about our collective ability to rescue our world from the mess we’ve created.
I know that acknowledging people when they do well can transform a day.
I know our world adores youth. And I am not immune to the siren call of ‘stuff you can do if you have endless energy.” But I’m at the juncture that points toward mining the inner treasures.
A legacy requires a lifetime to build. I hope mine will endure.
Susan Burgess-Lent 