Houser's secret to long life: peace is good for you

Last night while at a farewell party for outgoing FOR Development Director Anita Fee, my wife Evelyn and I chatted with George Houser. I knew of him mainly as a leader both in the civil rights struggles of the ”˜60’s and also in the addressing of contemporary African issues, though I am sure there are myriad other things he has done for peace and justice throughout the years. “I could learn so much from you,” I told him. “Are you giving any talks or leading any workshops these days?”

“Every now and then,” he said. “There’s an article in the local newspaper just today about a visit I made to one of the local schools.” You can see that article and an accompanying video HERE, an excerpt is below.

Evelyn asked him maybe a more important question: “How do you stay so young? Did you find the Fountain of Youth?” That is probably the most obvious question upon meeting George. He is in his 90’s, but his vitality and appearance speak of a person much younger. Over the din of the party, I heard him say something about attitude.

I thought of other pacifists who in demeanor and attitude belie their reputed years. Evelyn asked me why I don’t look younger. I demurred, “It is probably because I am not pacifist enough, not down all the way to my bones.” With all the sales pitches about anti-aging these days, let us dare say, with George as a great example, that, yes, peace is good for the health of the big world, and also for that of the individual practitioner as well.

For the better part of half an hour, longtime civil rights activist George Houser kept a class of teens riveted as he described events that happened before their parents were born.

At 92, Houser recalls first-hand the decades before Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on the bus and remembers staging nonviolent protests in Chicago restaurants and roller rinks that refused to allow his black friends to join him.

Yesterday, he spoke about those experiences to students in Marc Pessin's history class at Rockland Country Day School.

- The Journal News: Rights activist, 92, holds kids rapt with tales of struggle, 4/9/08