Turns Out Fighting Fascism Helps You Live Longer

[DBoon]

Terri Williams, who lives in northern Texas, started volunteering as a high schooler in the mid-1970s—at first for Planned Parenthood, educating people about birth control. In retirement, she hasn’t stopped.

Linda McMahon’s 2024 nomination as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, a prelude to attempts in dismantling the department, led Williams to double down on her efforts, which now center on helping elementary schoolers excel.
...
Williams is one of a legion of retired people responding to the tears in the country’s social fabric by volunteering in their communities, rather than staying frozen in fear—work that has taken on new urgency under the second Trump administration.

A January study in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that volunteering slows down aging in retirees: the DNA of people who volunteered the equivalent of one to four hours a week showed distinctive biomarkers associated with decelerated epigenetic aging, with the most pronounced effects among retired people.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/11/retirees-volunteering-election-democracy-study-health/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

[Pinback]

1. Wow, this is great to see.

Looking forward to doing more volunteering in 2026.

[BurnDoubt]

2. Feeling Useful is a great motivator.

[Dear_Prudence]

3. Needs some qualifiers

Welcome to Normandy? WW2 veterans would not agree with the overly broad headline that "fighting fascism" helps you live longer. But the gist of the article seems to echo Viktor Frankl's thesis in his inspirational classic book 'Man's Search for Meaning'. Frankl observed that having a purpose in life increases longevity, a phenomenon he observed in a concentration camp. Based on my own experience, I would guess that meaningful and/or pleasurable volunteering could boost health. However, getting stuck with the grunt work while being excluded or discouraged from the fun, meaningful, or creative volunteer work is a risk many volunteers have faced.

[AverageOldGuy]

4. Well . . .

I’ll be 81 this Friday. I volunteer one day a week at my church food bank. I recently stepped down from local volunteer rescue squad in a rural VA county where as an EMT I ran rescue for 12 years.

With this news, I think I’ll take on another day at the food bank!!!

[LymphocyteLover]

5. An accidental effect of MAGA and MAHA