Passion

Top O' the mornin everyone!

I received a correspondence from a man who responded to our Craigslist volunteer post. He is a retired gentleman who had begun to atrophy in his home, and wanted to make a positive change in his life. I asked his permission to post his thoughts and feelings and he readily agreed. Richard is an inspiration to me and is, in my humble opinion, a prime example of how we can all make a change at any time in our lives for the better. Way to go Richard. You are today's C1 Hero!!

L


I will not be joining you as a Community First volunteer. However, you may have changed my life. You asked me on the phone for my bio (whatever the hell that is) and what my passion is. I started thinking about passion, and the last passion I had around work was my military service 40+ years ago. There was a draft at that time and although I was personally opposed to participating in offensive war, I was willing to fight a defensive war. My training as a navy diving officer and leader of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team allowd me to focuse on saving lives and protecting property...and I was very passionate about my job. In fact, it was the last time I was passionate about a job. And now I know why my first year of retirement has been so unfulfilling--no passion--and why I have been unable to decide what to do with my retirement--again, no passion. Today I interviewed with SAFE (Special Advocate For Elders) in Reno. SAFE trains volunteers to uncover quality-of-life abuse of elder patients and especially abuse of their financial assets--usually by maurding guardians, family, attorneys, etc. The patients usually have some degree of dementia and end up doing without quality care in their final years because their assets have been plundered. My background in accounting (especially the stint in forensic accounting) will probably get me assigned to the more compex cases. And boy do I have passion for this, which I only became aware of as the interview unfolded. It never occured to me that a life with passion would put an end to my lackluster and boring retirement. Thanks for asking me what my passion is!! I didn't know I had any passion left in me...or that passion might be out there looking for me. Most of the retired seniors I meet have no passion in their lives and fill their time with activities that leave them feeling bored and unfullfilled. For example, go into a casino and look at the slot players--it wouldn't be so bad if there was even a hint of anything except boredom and resignation in their faces. Retirees take jobs at Walmart to escape their empty lives and I meet them all the time as employees at the Grocery Outlet, hardware stores, auto parts stores, etc. Maybe your true calling is to infuse seniors (or anyone) with the awareness that passion is indeed an option and can transform one's life....and then help them to begin to search for it. For the last year I have researched volunteer opportunities here in Carson but nothing grabbed me. Only recently have I begun to answer adds in the volunteer section of Craig's List....which is how you and I met and also led to my interview with SAFE today. Once again, thanks for asking me what my passion is!!