Category Archives: Relationships

Retiring Among the Like-Minded…Or Not

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

Ever since switching from full time to part time employment I’ve been thinking about what constitutes a good retirement. I’m sometimes surprised by who has something to say about the issue. Jack Dickey, a 24-year-old writing for Time magazine, put … Continue reading →

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The Down Side of Generativity

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

Last October, the New Yorker published an article about the biggest hedge fund scandal of all time. The scandal involved insider trading by billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen and his fund, S.A.C. Capital Advisors. In 2008, a clinical … Continue reading →

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Generativity

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

Generativity is a quality that psychoanalyst Erik Erikson associated with a healthy middle adulthood. Erikson thought that around midlife it is common to develop an interest in doing something that will outlast oneself. Earlier in adulthood, most of us focus on … Continue reading →

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Are Elderly Parents an Emotional Weight for Their Children?

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently wrote about medical ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel’s Atlantic article explaining why he doesn’t want to live past age 75. I left off without having discussed one of his contentions, that living a long time can have a negative impact on … Continue reading →

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If We All Live To 100

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

The cover story for the October issue of the Atlantic is titled “What Happens When We All Live to 100?” The author, Gregg Easterbrook, notes that the “life expectancy escalator”—the increase in life expectancy among younger cohorts—has gone up about … Continue reading →

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Roger Ebert, “Life Itself,” and Change

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently saw Life Itself, the documentary about Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert’s life. The most remarkable thing about this film wasn’t any of Ebert’s achievements but his willingness to be filmed as he was dying of cancer. His … Continue reading →

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Generativity at the Movies

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently posted a reflection on “Chef,” Jon Favreau’s movie about an eminent chef whose career runs aground on the shoals of excess caution, then is re-floated thanks to a cross-country jaunt on a food truck. One of the movie’s … Continue reading →

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“Can You Spare Me a Dime?” Getting Ready For the Journey.

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

My mom and I were my dad’s primary caregivers as dementia gradually chewed at his mind. I helped them in their home for almost two years, until, at last, my mother made the difficult decision to have dad admitted to … Continue reading →

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News Flash! Old People Are Invisible!

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In his excellent article in the New Yorker about the rigors and rewards of growing old, Roger Angell, who at age 93 certainly knows something about the subject, describes what it’s like to be treated as if he is irrelevant: … Continue reading →

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When Older Adults Think of the Dead

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In a recent post about the unprocessed emotions that many older adults accumulate, I quoted a line by 93-year-old essayist Roger Angell to the effect that advanced age provides plenty of opportunities for bad news. Angell also describes his experiences with loss; in this post … Continue reading →

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