20-Somethings Send a Message to the Future

What will the future bring? Who will you be in 25 years? AARP recently asked the 20-somethings of America to speculate, via a one-minute video, what their lives will be like at 50.


Click here for our favorite of the winning videos, "Lost Generation."

Our Expert Dr. Bill Holt Reports:

AARP has opened a window for intergenerational contact and discussion by sponsoring a contest for young adults to glimpse into their own future. Using the medium of YouTube, five college students have won cash prizes for their entries. Three of the prize winners were majoring in film or video; two of them were my students majoring in psychology. Taken together, all five winners mixed video-craft with message to produce short films that exhibit not only cinematic panache but their view of tomorrow as seen today.

Watching these videos is fun but also informative as it allows us baby boomers to see how a younger generation sees us as they portray themselves in middle age. What will be their values, their priorities, their hopes and aspirations? I was excited to incorporate this contest into my class last semester and even more excited to find that two of my students placed in the top five. What I've taken away from watching these videos is an increased confidence that these 20-something college students can and will address the challenge of becoming adults in the 21st century. Where they will be at 50 is not a dream but a commitment. After 36 years in the classroom, I certainly am entitled to be jaundiced about the current generation of college students, but these videos have erased my skepticism.

If you feel distanced from those half or even a third of your age, just watch, marvel, and appreciate these videos. Knowing that the next generation share many of our values and are committed to working hard to achieve their place in our society actually is good news!

UNICEF Reports a 60% Drop in Child Mortality Since 1960

The United Nations Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF, reports that solid progress has been made in saving children's lives around the world. In its annual The State of the World's Children report, UNICEF estimates that there's been a 60% drop in the rate of child mortality since 1960.

There's still much to be done, says UNICEF. By using low-cost tools and involving local communities in providing health-care services to mothers and children, many more lives can be saved.

How can you help? Learn about the various ways in which you can volunteer and donate by visiting The United States Fund for UNICEF. Charity Navigator gives this charity its highest rating (four stars). An impressive 90.8% of money donated goes directly to programs that provide nutrition, education, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and immunization.

By the way, did you know that the United States Fund for UNICEF is the oldest of 37 national committees for UNICEF worldwide? It's been around since 1947 and supports the work of UNICEF, improving children's day-to-day lives in 155 countries, not only providing food, water, and medicine, but also safety, peace, and hope.

Imagine how the children helped by UNICEF must feel knowing that so many people around the world care about their fate.

American Idol Has America Singing a New Tune

Fess up. Are you one of the millions addicted to American Idol? Doesn’t it just make you want to belt out a song? If so, maybe you should learn how to properly use that beautiful instrument in your throat. (Simon Cowell will thank you.)

Several colleges and universities are starting to train instructors for a new type of music course. This weekend, for instance, the University of Massachusetts is offering an instructor certification course called “Vocal Pedagogy in the New Millennium” (roughly translated, "Teaching Voice for Popular Music").

Rock, pop, rap, country, gospel, jazz, and folk—the predominant popular forms of music in the past 50 years or so—all fall under the tag “Contemporary Commercial Music” or CCM. Until recently, however, if a person wanted to sing professionally in these styles the only real option was classical vocal training. Problem is, the vocal skills and style required to sing a classical piece from, say, the opera La Boheme, are different than those required to sing a CCM—say, a tune from Broadway's Sweeney Todd or a country hit like Get My Drink On.

As we reported earlier in “Dr. Bill's Alzheimer’s Reality Check," activities such as learning to ballroom dance, speak a foreign language, or play a musical instrument all exercise the brain, keep the synapses nimble. Learning to sing is no exception. And, as is true when we submerge ourselves in beautiful art, it brings joy to our lives. Whether we’re singing in the shower, in our local choir, or to an audience of millions, music makes us happy. Learning how to use that built-in instrument—our voice—could very well contribute to our overall physical and mental well-being.

So, did American Idol start this trend? There’s no way of knowing, really, but it doesn’t seem a stretch to think so. After all, TV is always shaping popular culture, influencing us in ways we’re not always paying attention to.

(The UMass music course was brought to our attention by our excellent college intern Chandni Patel. )

Former Taliban Fighter Works Toward a Better Future for All

Just 17 when Taliban recruiters came to his impoverished village in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Shaukat Ali was trained to be a killer and sent to Afghanistan. "It was there, in Afghanistan, that Ali began to question the Taliban ideology in general and its treatment of women in particular," writes Karin Ronnow (Ode, November 2007).

In another powerful, solutions-oriented article from Ode, we meet Shaukat Ali, who went from Taliban fighter to teacher at the Patika Girls’ School in Kashmir. He's making a difference that will affect us all.

The Taliban preys on the uneducated. "Ali is convinced educating girls in particular is the only way his country will change," writes Rannow. "Female literacy in the villages runs at about 4 percent. But educated girls will become educated mothers, argues Ali, and insist on education for their children, which could set the nation on a new track."

Click here to read Karin Ronnow's excellent "The Transformation of an Extremist."

New Year's Resolution Assessment

So how are they going, those new year's resolutions? Here's one we think you should add to your list. It's guaranteed to improve your general outlook and will spill over into all the other things you're trying to accomplish:

Take the Good News Diet Challenge.

What we focus on matters. Call it positive thinking or the law of attraction or conscious creation, or whatever label you choose—what we think about day to day, what we believe, affects our lives. So make this the year you get positive. Take the Good News Diet Challenge and stay informed with positive, solutions-oriented news. We're here to help you with the And Now for the Good News book, Web site, and Regular Dose newsletter.

Take charge of your mind; take charge of your news. It'll make all the difference.

If you're already taking the challenge, good for you! Let us know how it's going by emailing us as sueandpam@andnowforthegoodnews.com.

Spread the news!

Lighten Your Mail Carrier's Load

Browsing catalogs can be fun, but how many of us are really interested in that regular copy of Necessary Stuff for People Who Love Their Iguana?

There's a free, simple way to get off the mailing list of the catalogs filling up your recycle bin. Visit CatalogChoice.org. After a fast and painless sign-up, you can request which catalogs you'd like canceled.

Add the site to your Favorites list and add catalogs as you receive them. You'll save a tree. You'll save that Iguana supply company some cash. You'll save your mail carrier's back. It's all good.

Plan Ahead, Have the Last Word

This year, rather than the usual Lose 10 Pounds, Save Money, Treat the In-Laws Better kind of resolutions, why not do something that'll shake up your life a little? Like, say, plan your last words.

Really, what would you like to be able to say about yourself when your time is winding down?

For inspiration, we recommend The New York Times' Last Word series. Similar to The Last Lecture series, which we told you about in an earlier report, The Last Word is a series of interviews with famous and influential people about their lives, with the specific purpose of being viewed only upon their deaths.

The first Last Word installment, released in January 2007, was an interview with Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Art Buchwald. The interview took place five months earlier and wasn't made public until the day of Buchwald’s passing. Facing the camera with a smile, “Hi,” he says, “I’m Art Buchwald and I’ve just died.”

It’s an amazing interview with a man full of life and wit right up until his last moments on this good Earth. It inspires us to ask ourselves, “What would I like to be able to say about myself when the time comes? And how do I start being that me today?"