When I was asked to do a Ted Talk last fall, I said no, I am happy with my books and blog, I don’t feel the need to speak to the wider world, although that sometimes happens, even on the blog. When I thought about it, I realized there was something I wanted to say to the world, and it wasn’t really about my books or about animals or dogs or rural life. I wanted to talk about how tto live one’s life in a world increasingly dominated by fear, money and conflict.

I wanted to talk about what I called “Creative Aging,” I sat down and wrote a 10-point manifesto, my first ever about how strongly I feel that aging ought not to only be viewed in the prism of physical decline, long-term health insurance, health care and medicines. Aging is about many things, it is a challenging and important time, it is also a wondrous time full of humor, wisdom, experience and connection. So I gave my Ted Talk about that, and it went up on You Tube a few minutes ago, it will soon be loaded onto the main Ted Talk website. It already had 1,000 views before I even knew about it. You can see it here.

I was sick the day I gave the Ted Talk, I think it was stress really, it was the first time I had returned to Montclair, N.J. since my divorce – I lived there for 25 years. I was up all night, I didn’t sleep for a minute. It felt good to give the talk, I got a standing ovation afterwards. Anyway, here it is, my message to the world about growing older in a meaningful way. I think the biggest lesson I learned about growing older is that it doesn’t have to be a time of downsizing, living smaller, thinking smaller, it can be a time of wonderful growth and expansion. It required me to ignore almost every single thing the culture was telling me about aging, and it was a lonely process in some ways.

Older people have vanished from our culture, except in ads for sexual stimulants. Marketers don’t like people who don’t have many years of buying power. So I decided to live my own story about getting older, and I wanted to share it. I hope it has some meaning for others.

Don’t ever give up on love.