A number of people have thanked me
for “holding the space.” It’s as if I’d arrived early for the picnic, staked out a lush spot by the river and put dibs on the place by scattering blankets and chairs all about... It is for YOU I have been holding this place.

— Bolton Anthony, Second Journey Founder
 

A message from Ken Pyburn, Second Journey's new president

 “We are the ones we've been waiting for”

I remember from a year ago feeling an almost palpable sense of empowerment ripple through the room at Santa Sabina as Bolton Anthony, who was facilitating the August 2005 Visioning Council, read the concluding words of the Hopi elder's admonition to the people: “We are the ones we've been waiting for.”

	Photo taken after an 11-day Vision Quest in an unusually wet and snowy Death Valley in 2004-05.

I had a similar experience this July — no longer a participant this time, but filling Bolton's shoes as facilitator — at the Visioning Council on Whidbey Island north of Seattle: the sense of immense possibility that flowed from the rich diversity of talents and gifts gathered in the room. (You will be treated to a small taste of those talents as you read the articles in this issue of Itineraries, all but one of them contributed by “alumni” of the July Council.)

After I'd agreed to serve as president of Second Journey's newly restructured board, Bolton told me: “Yes, it is true, ‘We are the ones we've been waiting for.’ But YOU are the one I'VE been waiting for.”

It is with a measure of humility — a virtue a bit rare among those like me who cut his teeth as a internal turnaround specialist at IBM — that I accept the challenge of helping move this organization forward.

The work accomplished this past past year is nothing short of phenomenal, and the opportunities before us are great. Since the Santa Sabina Council, we have held two strategic planning sessions. Last November, at Kirkridge in Pennsylvania, a dozen colleagues most directly involved in the work revisited our Mission Statement and commissioned two planning teams with further work. Then, this past May, an expanded group met in Boulder to assess progress and develop specific action steps. From these sessions, and from the continued work of small teams, the following has emerged:

   Plans for an expanded web site and e-newsletter, with an increased roster of guest editors and contributing authors.

   Grant proposals being developed in several areas, including one that will support our first international Visioning Council, to be held in Hamburg, Germany, in September of 2007.

   An ever-widening circle of active elders — supported by younger colleagues — helping with our program design, outreach efforts, and fundraising activities.

   Burgeoning partnerships with other organizations and networks committed to a new concept of “Aging in Community.” 

   Clearer connection to the work of many others in allied fields being impacted by the revolution in human longevity.

In the quote I opened with, Bolton invited us all to join the “picnic.” I want to conclude by affirming that I, like Bolton, “do not have THE VISION.” Indeed, as he goes on to write: “No one person does. It is scattered in pieces among us, and we will find our way into the future only by coming together in community and delighting in the different treats we each bring to the celebration.” JOIN US.

— Ken Pyburn, President