In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Atticus, wise and generous man tells his son, Jem, about an old woman who is dying of cancer.

Her name is Mrs. Dubose. She has been a bitter critic of Atticus for his insistence on equal rights for blacks in that small southern town. So Jem hates the old woman for criticizing his father. But Atticus wants his son to see the greatness in this cantankerous old woman.

For years she has taken morphine, at her doctor’s orders, to ease her pain; eventually she became a morphine addict. As it became clear that her days were numbered, she was determined to end her addiction before she died so that she would die beholden to nothing, to nobody.

Turning over the authority of your body and mind, post 70, to the enemies who invade us, amounts to waging a very intentional battle. There is no way to escape the full complement of weaknesses to which we may be prone. There is a way to hold some of them at bay.

Let’s investigate the latter: Aging is a very predictable process which will find its subtle and not so subtle ways of reducing our abilities and discouraging our strength and stamina. The first lesson is not to give in. Often, following on a major surgery or other illness, our bodies seem to want to “give up.” The easy chair becomes more and more desirable. Exercise is less and less appealing. Both of these enemies are certain to prevail, if we let them.

The other day I introduced an older gentleman and his lovely wife, who were just one table over from us in a local restaurant, to Senior Citizen Journal. His appropriate question was: “Well, what approach do you take?”

While I might have been taken aback, I was quickly aware I was dealing with a very astute contemporary senior observer. Everybody is somewhat suspicious these days. And everybody is met so often with some self serving agenda, that such a question is quite appropriate and well deserved.

Before all your resources are spent, you may want to identify a means for evaluating what intentional desires you have for your estate upon your death. Making decisions about your estate is an early on decision which prevents heartache and disappointment later.

For those who have structured their lives to take into account the consequences of choices, this will be less a challenge than for those who have lived day to day. Resources must be tended to, like a garden. If those resources are to provide sufficient income for yourself and, if you desire to be in a position to gift others, then intentionality will be a major influence.

Upon retirement, there are several practical and flexible issues that need to be taken into account. Having made out an estate plan in

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in America, started her practice in New York in 1851. Not only was she unable to find patients–no one would even rent her a room once she mentioned that she was a doctor. After weeks of trudging the streets, she finally rented rooms from a landlady who asked no questions about what Elizabeth planned to do with them.

Quaker women, who had always been receptive to the goal of equal rights, became Elizabeth’s first patients. But no hospital would would allow her on its staff. Finally, with financial help from her Quaker friends, Elizabeth opened her own clinic in one of New York’s worst slums.

Best estimates currently are that 60% of senior citizens over 60 will need long term care in their lifetime. Those seniors at risk for early onset Alzheimers and Parkinsons will likely need care before the age of 60. Seniors everywhere need to look seriously at purchasing long term care insurance.

SCJ’s advice is that before one more day passes, set up an appointment to apply for Long Term Care Insurance coverage. The sooner you explore this option, the more likely you are to be very pleased with your intelligence and foresight. Waiting or putting off the decision will simply cost you more in the future. Or, it will create less likelihood of your being accepted.

The process is simple. Go to your primary care physician and have a conversation with him/her about the advantages of long term

Retirement, for many, begins almost like a romance. Infatuated with its desirability and what seems like limitless options, one is hard pressed to narrow down the priorities and tempted to do it all at once. That is impossible, of course. Thus, one is confronted with having to sort out what the realistic options are for your retirement, and to act on them with some kind of practical timeline.

Getting caught in the trap of “cookie cutter” choices, many commit themselves to limiting their options early on. Settling in somewhere is the first consideration that brings with it multiplied implications. If you stay where you are, there are predictable advantages; if you relocate, you automatically impose numerous new obligations and time consuming demands on that choice; if you do the motor-home thing, you are constantly free to go where you wish, but bound to always looking toward the next

The next eleven months are likely to produce more consternation than satisfaction. Expecting a miracle is likely a vain endeavor. America’s political and social climates have been reduced almost to ashes. The fury looms large, as it seeks to decimate those who are declared candidates. One by one the lustre of their shine dulls and the promise of their leadership dims. Can anyone withstand the furious anger and the dynamite charges to reputation and background?

While hope springs eternal and some are forever optimistic, some of that is fed by machinations and manipulations that would shame even the most naive. Can we expect anything good to emerge from so much that is bad? If America is so committed to the principle of “In God we Trust,” who among those who claim God’s inspiration can be trusted? Is there any demonstration of truth and integrity that can be unearthed?

Vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste are all essential to our daily existence. There are no guarantees that they will always and forever function well as we grow older. When various conditions develop which alter the sharpness of any of these senses, we are met with a sudden and dramatic realizations of how critically important and vital each of them is.

A recent diagnosis of macular degeneration has offered both a surprise and an adjustment I was not quite ready to make. Over the past year, however, I had become aware, since receiving my last correction in my eye glasses, that I was having difficulty making out signs at a distance and recognizing people across a room. These were obviously symptoms that were bothersome and telling. Indeed they were. For when I went to two physicians to get independent opinions, I was met with the same verdict. Increasingly, computer work, reading chiron on television, making out images at a distance have all become more of a challenge.

The prospect of losing your driver’s license looms large as certain of our faculties begin to slow. It is not a prospect most of us face with candid and resolute willingness. Many fight against it, to the bitter end. Many refuse to allow the realities of declining sharpness to be acknowledged. It will come and it will insist upon its own way.

Some of the issues that meet us with their frank openness and literal demand are easy to observe: Limited mobility for getting into and out of a vehicle, ability to park within necessary lines, managing the knobs and controls of your vehicle, visual recognition of warning lights and other read outs in your car, seeing behind you when backing up, clarity of vision for reading signs, recognizing stop lights, warning lights, crosswalks, etc., exiting your car with necessary brakes applied, shutting off certain instruments, being sure the car is in the proper gear, dealing with distractions while driving, e.g. conversations, etc.