For more than a year and throughout the pandemic, Colonie Senior Service Centers has conducted one-on-one interviews with area seniors on a wide variety of subject matters. We have been interviewing veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam, as well as individuals with unique career paths and incredible women of distinction. These interviews are shared with the community through our monthly newsletter “Senior Connections.” Additionally, through a grant from Humanities NY, many interviews were videotaped and are now available via our YouTube Channel and Facebook Live.
The lessons we learned from these interviews is in how to listen to others. Hearing about war, working in a labor camp or a concentration camp, being the first in a professional field of study, and having been presented with incredible opportunities or heartache has expanded our horizons and perspectives, and changed how we perceive people in our own community. We have learned so much from the simple act of listening.
We recognize that everyone has talents, experiences and opinions in addition to needing human contact and being heard. We humbly recommend taking the time to sit down with a senior to have a conversation. Allow them to do the talking; you will be surprised by how much there is to learn.
Diane Conroy-LaCivita
Executive Director
Colonie Senior Service Centers