War,Peace, and Promise-Making: Becoming a Late-Life Activist

In this article I reflect on the effect of two wars on my life: World War II and the war in Viet Nam. Then I discuss the complexities involved in relinquishing the role of silent bystander in the analytic space as well as on the world stage through an examination of the concept of promise-making. A clinical example illustrates how the complicated and demanding process of making and keeping promises affected a therapeutic process.