Great Interview!

I just heard a great interview with Martin Bayne on the NPR show Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Bayne’s somewhat unique position is that he suffers from early Parkinson’s (my Mom had this too) and as a result is in an assisted living facility about a generation before most people usually go there. As an MIT grad and journalist, and student of Buddhism, he seems well qualified to document and share this experience. He’s sick enough to be in the facility, and well enough to talk about it. He has an industry leading blog at thevoiceofagingboomers.com/

I put this in the religion section as an example of how sometimes the best of religion has little to do with religious ideology. There’s a bit of religion talk here, but mostly the conversation is all about human wisdom, insight, compassion, the little things of daily life, and death.

Our younger members will perhaps find this challenging, as they are probably still suffering from the illusion that they are immortal. :slight_smile: That’s ok, that’s normal, but if you’re sincerely interested in religion, give this a try anyway, and you’ll struggle mightily to find anything to debunk. Sorry to ruin it for you. :smiley:

You can hear the interview here:

npr.org/2012/09/06/160676993 … ted-living

One of the best interviews I’ve heard on NPR, and that’s saying something.

Was an interesting interview. But I find that listening to such issues and situations is a bit depressing for those of us who can relate, but cannot interfere in any helpful way. He probably doesn’t even know that he was describing only a tiny fraction of the deeper problem and future.

Not to worry. Compassion overrides the reflex to debunk.

Tell me about it. My mom went through this for 15 years, and it wasn’t often I could interfere in a helpful way.

I did send this fellow a quick email, and received a reply, but I’m sure he was doing more for me than I was for him.

I thought it was inspiring that even in the face of such challenges this guy found a way to live a meaningful life. When his story is finally done, this may look like the peak of his life, not the end of it.

Yes James, we know. :smiley: