NAELA FELLOWS
Acceptance Speech

Fay Blix

Thank you.

To be honored by one's peers is especially meaningful.

But one does not arrive here alone.

There have been many along my personal pathway who have made a difference.

NAELA Staff, NAELA leaders, NAELA members ... particularly your president, Donna Bashaw, with whom I have shared the Elder Law Center in Laguna Hills for almost 15 years.

A little less than two years ago, I lost my only sister at the age of 59.
Three years previous to that, I lost my only brother at the age of 57.
I dedicate this award especially to them this afternoon, for two reasons:
One, their absence is painful as I receive this honor, but
Two, their deaths have given me a gift — their deaths have taught me to live my life mindful of its temporariness.

Mortality changes priorities.
Every moment becomes precious.
I want to know my life has mattered.
I want to leave behind something of value ...

The practice of elder law is such a gift ...
Caring for people when they are most vulnerable can be one of the most gratifying experiences possible.

It takes a lot out ...
It puts a lot in.

I love to look at my clients' hands.
The wrinkles.
The large veins.
The liver spots.
The gnarled knuckles.
There is history in those hands.

Hard work.
Courage in callouses.

Those hands represent a lifetime of commitment —
Diapers changed ...
Meals prepared ...
Children disciplined ...
Households sustained ...
Needy neighbors helped ...
Communities comforted ...
Country and nation secured ...

And I love to watch those hands as they sign the documents I have prepared.

I love to watch their signatures of purpose, willing those stiff fingers and swollen joints to the finish line ...

I watch my client whose perfect Palmer penmanship has been pummeled by Parkinsons rise to the challenge ...

I watch my client with macular degeneration devise carefully crafted creative ways to ensure the signature lands on the line despite the holes in his vision ...

I watch my client freshly diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease sign with the courage of his convictions, doggedly determined to protect and prepare for his family before brain darkness falls ...

I love those hands ...
I want to hold those hands ...
I want to receive from those hands what they have to give ...

I don't want those hands to be hurt ...
to be bruised and battered by abuse ...
to be stripped of dignity ...
to be rendered useless ...
to be completely impoverished by costs of care ...

And then I look at my hands ...
I want my hands to construct ...
to contribute ...
to comfort ...
to care ...

Inaction is a luxury this nation cannot afford.
Harry Moody of AARP describes these times as "a moment of call."(1)

And so, I look at my hands ...
And I look at your hands ...
Together, we have an extraordinary pool of social and human capital.
To those who have given us a lifetime of commitment, we can return something of value ...
of beauty ...

Let us not be discouraged by the setbacks such as DRA or the slowness of the implementation of the Elder Justice Act.

Thomas Merton once said to an advocate despondent and weary while engaging in protest of the Vietnam war,

"Do not depend on the hope of results ...
Concentrate on the value ...
the truth of the work itself."(2)

And what a value ...
what a truth this work of elder law is.

But together we can do more ...

In the words of Marge Piercy —

"It goes on one at a time
It starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no
it starts when you say We
And know who you mean and each
day you mean one more."(3)


We can
We will make a difference!

Thank you again for giving me this honor.


(1) Harry R. Moody, et al., The Five Stages of the Soul, Anchor Books, 1998.
(2) William H. Shannon, editor, "Letter to Jim Forest, dated February 21, 1966," The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters by Thomas Merton, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1990.
(3) Marge Piercy, The Moon Is Always Female, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1980.

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