Upfront October 3, 2011 Issue

Take the uphill option

Ingrid Peschke, Managing Editor

You might be tempted to think “downhill” is the better option, judging from the image on our cover this week! (Unless that is you’re an avid biker and you happen to love hills.) It’s easy to think a gradual descent downhill is the only way forward in life. Some might see retirement years like that—a kind of: “Finally, I can take it easy and enjoy life.” But how important it is to be sure there’s no accompanying agreement with a downturn in one’s productivity, health, or stamina. 

Launching our topic this week, Christian Science practitioner and teacher Rob Gilbert answers a range of site visitors’ questions from the recent live Sentinel audio chat on “Defeating the challenge of aging” (p. 6). And you’ll enjoy the account by Phyllis Zeno, a spunky editor who sees how careers are “ageless.” Faced with a forced retirement from a job she loved, she reflects: “My fellow workers were quick to offer their congratulations as I cleaned out my desk. ‘We can hardly wait till we’re 65 and out of here!’ they said. ‘Easy for you to say,’ I thought. I wasn’t ready to retire.” Instead of accepting a downhill verdict in a tough economy, Phyllis persevered with her aspirations. Read “My get-up-and-go career” on page 9. 

No matter where we are in life, the words of Mary Baker Eddy’s poem " 'Feed My Sheep' " offer sure guidance: “Shepherd, show me how to go / O’er the hillside steep . . . .” 

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Items of Interest

Scholars labor meticulously on a definitive Old Testament