Some words sent to this year's NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) conference in Washington D.C.

I will be a century old in 1,034 days. When I look back on the journey I have been on, I see I was constantly adapting and adopting to the environment. The indigenous environment in which one finds oneself needs to become an integral part of living and learning at the same time. Today we’re using technology that was unavailable at my birth. When I was young we used slate and a slate pencil. That’s no longer the case. Nor do we live using solar energy to create energy transfer. That energy transfer can now be generated in a merry go round and stored in lithium batteries for use in classrooms, streetlights, and homes. In Ghana, this energy is used in lanterns that children take home at night so that they can do their homework in a lantern lit home. These new adaptations create themselves for the new milieu of life…….. What I am describing is part of the longevity we must celebrate and value. Most of you will live beyond retirement age which used to be 65 or younger. That you may live long in peace and harmony is what global healing is all about. In our collaboration with Generations United and the Toy Industry Association to build intergenerational playgrounds in Cambridge, MA, we learned of the benefits of intergenerational play for both old and young. Many positive cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes have been observed from play in intergenerational facilities. Plato said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”. It’s also playtime now in Washington DC, so have fun! And play! Perhaps in an intergenerational park or in the back yard of a friend’s home. My latest edition is learning about drumming and playing at a xylophone. It’s fun! The more we share the more we care. That’s what Global Healing is all about. It’s a matter of sharing your gifts with others, that we have to demonstrate day in and day out. Thus, we avoid the turmoil and negativity that we tend to encounter, rather than the positives of life. (Alice Miel, my principal advisor wrote about it three decades ago in her publication, “Cooperative procedures in learning”.) Let life be fun and let play be part of the journey of your friends and you! Thank you for listening and I wish you all a successful future journey toward peace and harmony.