Opinion by Ron Kokish
My son and 10-year-old grandson were skiing expert terrain on an unfamiliar mountain. When they arrived at a particularly risky slope dad said, “Wait here until I get to the bottom, then follow my line down.” Dad descended and turned to wave his son…
read more →By Ron Kokish
“A time to love and a time to die” … Ecclesiastes 3:2
At 85, my father was failing badly enough for his doctor to insist he stop driving. A few months later I called and casually asked how he was feeling. “Fine, physically,” he replied, “but life… read more →
By Ron Kokish
Freedom means having options throughout our lives, including the time during which we are dying. Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) increases our options. Unfortunately, it was not yet legally available in the 1980s, when my friend Dorothy’s father, Michael, died of cancer; so, Michael had no legal… read more →
By Ron Kokish
Charlie was 10 the day he came home from school to find his father Hugo dead in their Montreal living room, an empty whiskey glass on the table and a cigarette still smoldering between two fingers. Hugo’s decision to overdose was tragic and understandable.
Fleeing…
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By Ron Kokish
When it comes to aging, America has changed. Thanks mostly to a reduction in childhood mortality, more than 80% of Americans born in 1957 lived to be 65 this year. At over 54 million, the 65+ group is now almost 17% of the country. In contrast, in… read more →
Of course there’s a Santa Claus. I saw him up close in the Bronx, in 1959, in the employee bathroom at Alexander’s Department Store. We stood silently, as men do at adjoining urinals, finished our business and returned to our work: he to the Children’s Department on the second floor,… read more →
The Carbondale (AARP) Age-Friendly Community Initiative (CAFCI) works to help make Carbondale friendlier for people of all ages. Sue Zislis, a retired physical therapist, is a member of Senior Matters’ Board of Directors and CAFCI’s steering committee. Promoting Universal Design principles has been a rewarding part of her career. –Ron… read more →
Recently, my friend Jessi Hempel, a nationally-known journalist, asked Facebook friends how they felt about “having it all” in this time of COVID-19.
Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown used that phrase to title her 1982 memoire, and at the height of my career, it seemed something… read more →
