Seth Godin is so far in the present and future that he believes the culture is shifted as opposed to shifting. There is an important continuum and constant transition over time. There are still Americans who are dallying in the 19th century. Most are still cogs, jealously wanting to still be cogs, and very few — maybe a fraction — are the “players of ideas,” the “makers of things,” the “artists of their lives.” Seth Godin is both a modernist but also mostly (still) a futurist. I may well live in his future, but most do not, they still want Rolls Royces and Persian Rugs as signifiers to define who we are to others. They do address this, though, on the On Being podcast.
Category Archives: On Being
Krista Tippett interviews Jane Gross about aging on On Being
I woke up early Sunday and reached for the radio button and got to listen to the soothing, reassuring voices of Krista Tippett, host of On Being, and Jane Gross, creator of The New 
York Times’ New Old Age blog, talk about the emotional journey of taking care of an aging, aged, and dying parent. The episode is called The Far Shore of Aging (you can listen to the entire, unedited episode below in the embed) and is a mandatory listen for everyone: both those pre-, mid-, and post-caregiving. While all the recent reports on NPR and this episode almost mock me as they have all aired post my mum’s passing, this show acted like essential balm, an ointment that soothed some persistent feelings of failure, regret, ineptitude, and guilt. Not that they’re healed, but it was very helpful to realize, over time, that most everyone who has seen a parent through sickness, aging, agedness, dying, and death has gone through these same feelings of missing the mark. It was interesting, as an only child, to listen to Ms. Gross talk about going through the death of her mother alongside her brother.
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