Mixing up the volunteering

Early in my education career, I tended to get a bit bored after a few years of doing the same thing day after day (classroom teacher, building librarian) and would change jobs.

But no two days were ever the same when I was employed as a school technology director. 

Being a tech director from 1991 to 2019 meant new challenges each and every year. New technologies, of course, new installations, new policies, new training for staff, new ethical issues, changing tech and library staffing, and new security concerns kept one from being bored. To say the least. The work changed sufficiently that I stayed with one school district in the same role for 23 years.

In retirement, I find that I also like variety in my activities. I vary my exercise routine, take trips to new places, try hikes on new trails, and read new authors. But I also like to shake up my volunteering activities, the things that fill my days and give me purpose.

In the month of May alone, I…

• Served as a volunteer driver, taking people to medical appointments
• Shopped for groceries for those who are home-bound
• Drove a van for a senior center to take residents grocery shopping
• Led hikes for an outdoor club
• Cleared trails in northern Minnesota for the Border Route Trail Association
• Organized and participated in service projects for my Rotary Club and served on the club’s board 

In the past year I also

• Presented programs for the outdoor club, Rotary, and YMCA groups
• Served as a History Day judge
• Participated in a hearing aids test for the University of Minnesota

A couple weeks ago I learned how to give rides on an ebike to people in wheelchairs. (It has a platform in the front of the bike on which the wheelchair sits.) I’ve not yet signed up to actually do this, but I will next month. 

It’s not hard to find opportunities to volunteer, that’s for sure. Each Saturday the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper prints the “Get Involved” column listing a dozen different volunteering needs by organizations around the city. The University of Minnesota has a volunteer center for retirees. Our county has a volunteer coordinator. There are several online resources for locating volunteer opportunities matched to one’s preferences, including Volunteer Match.

One should use caution when volunteering, however, One can get addicted to the work. Attached to the people one serves and with whom one works. Satisfied by the sense that one has done a good turn for others. Gained comfort from knowing one has improved one’s karma. 

Enjoy doing good work. Perhaps that is the secret to happy living.

The eagle as a symbol for America

 

     The first time I saw an eagle in the wild was in the mid-90s. My friend Cary, our families, and I were taking a boat ride on Lake Vermillion in northern Minnesota. While avoiding what seemed like countless rocks just below the surface of the lake, we watched in awe as one of these splendid raptors flew directly overhead and landed high on a tree on a nearby island.

     I like the symbolism of the eagle as our national bird. Not because the bird is big, powerful, ferocious or beautiful, but because its very presence shows that our country has the potential to do the right thing. I never saw an eagle or any other bird of prey growing up since the insecticide DDT so weakened the birds’ egg shells that they could not last long enough to hatch chicks. Despite heavy opposition from agricultural interests, the US managed to outlaw the use of DDT in 1972. It may not have been the popular thing to do, but it led to the survival of the birds.

     As a result I now regularly see eagles in flight, even over the Twin Cities suburbs. And each time I do, I am proud of at least that once slice of Americana.

     I reflected on this a few days ago while attending my younger grandson’s Boy Scout Court of Honor where he received the rank of Eagle Scout, the organization's highest, awarded to than fewer than 4% of all Scouts. The ceremony made it abundantly clear that earning the award involves a lot of community service. Giving back to the community. Giving more than one receives. Giving selflessly.  I think both my Eagle Scout grandsons understand this and I could not be more proud of them. And their parents who raised them right.

 

Mental competency testing - I'm all for it

(Nikki) Haley wants to require mental competency tests for politicians older than 75. In other words, her leading opponents. In other words, ageism. David Banks, Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 11, 2023

Ageism or common sense? Each year at my health checkup, I get a little cognitive test along with my blood pressure levels. I am given three words (captain, chair, window) early in the exam. Then toward the end of it, I am asked to remember and repeat the words back to the physician. I am also asked to draw a clock (I always ask “digital or analog” hoping for the chuckle that never comes) and then asked to draw the hands to indicate a certain time. So far I have passed. 

Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (which at least I had the cognitive ability to find online) is the test Halley suggests using. It asks for long strings of words and numbers to be memorized and repeated back - a test similar to the one I have described above. I don’t know how well I would do since my short term memory has never been all that good.

So thank heavens I am not in public office and subject to such tests. But if such tests are good to evaluate the competence of our political leaders, might we also want to use them on other folks who rely on their brains as well? And why wait until age 75 to give such tests? Why not give them every year to all workers? I’d just as soon my 27-year-old trash hauler didn’t have an impairment that would cause her to put my recycling into the regular trash. I would like my dentist to remember which tooth needed a root canal. I rely on my auto mechanic to use the right motor oil in my car. Perhaps voluntary cognitive checks could a type of endorsement used in promoting one’s services? “Our hair stylists all pass a cognitive ability test each year!”

I have long advocated for competence in adults making educational decisions. Johnson’s Test Fairness Plan: Require no high school tests that the adults who insist on them can’t pass was written quite some time ago. 

But when it comes to politicians, I would be less insistent on a cognitive or fact-based test than I would on a morality test. (Yes, such things exist.) I can tolerate a forgetful person. I can even identify with an ignorant soul. But I dislike people who are selfish, dishonest, mean, intolerant, and sneaky. A politician’s score on a test that measures these traits would certainly influence my vote.