The Third Chapter

Not all find the satisfaction they were seeking. Rachel Middleton left a nonprofit policy organization she had built and went to divinity school in search of spiritual renewal. The experience proved as disturbing as it was fulfilling.

In a youth-obsessed culture, stereotypes of aging often portray the later years as a time for leisure and retreat, rather than challenge and engagement. But as the ranks of older, better-educated Americans increase, more people in their Third Chapter will yearn for active engagement and a sense of purpose.

That desire drove Charles Watson, a senior partner in a law firm, to trade pinstripes for overalls and become an urban gardener. It also propelled Lucinda Miller to return to her earlier work as an international relief worker in war-torn countries. She regards her 50s as the best decade of her life so far.

Lawrence-Lightfoot concedes that these 40 people do not represent the majority of those in the Third Chapter. Educated and affluent, most enjoy a privileged status. As she explains, “they all lived lives of real – or perceived – abundance that allowed them to make choices and take risks, and, more important, they all came from educational and work backgrounds that offered them access and networks to a broad range of relationships, resources, and institutions.”

The book would have profited from a broader range of participants. Even so, many lessons these subjects learn are generally transferable to a more diverse range of people. Under certain economic, cultural, developmental, and temperamental conditions, Lawrence-Lightfoot believes, “most people might be able to develop the capacities to embark on new learning in their Third Chapter.”

Not everyone has the resources, energy, and determination to overcome the challenges inherent in later-life endeavors. And not all readers will agree with Lawrence-Lightfoot’s rather extravagant claim that “In our Third Chapter we are completely changed adults who care little for the decorum and rules that have defined our public personas in the past....”

Yet as she refutes limitation and encourages expansive thinking, Lawrence-Lightfoot opens up satisfying possibilities for many people in their later decades.

Successful aging, she notes, “requires that people continue – across their lifetime – to express a curiosity about their changing world, an ability to adapt to shifts in their developmental and physical capacities, and an eagerness to engage new perspectives, skills, and appetites. This requires the willingness to take risks, experience vulnerability and uncertainty, learn from experimentation and failure, seek guidance and counsel from younger generations, and develop new relationships of support and intimacy.”

That’s good advice at any age.

Marilyn Gardner is a Monitor staff writer.

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