A wise man once wrote that most people see problem of love primarily as that of being loved, rather than that of loving, or of one's capacity to love.

Ida Mae Lee, who celebrated her 100th birthday last Sunday, realizes that the secret to loving well is to relate to others with kindness and joy.

Mrs. Lee is the grandmother of Detroit's First Lady, Yvette Bing. She was honored Sunday at a celebration held at Ricky's Ballroom in Detroit. And no one present celebrated as much the honoree.

From the moment she arrived Mrs. Lee exuded happiness along with a spirit of faith, gratitude and determination. And as family and admirers gathered around her, she literally danced in her chair. When asked what was the key to her longevity she reiterated that it was love of and trust in God.

The wife of the late Charles Lee (they married in January 1929 and he passed away in 1989 after 60 years of marriage), Mrs. Lee is the mother of ten children (three of whom she has outlived). She has 26 grandchildren, over a hundred great-grandchildren and scores of great- great-grandchildren.

"I had a hard time but! Made it," said Mrs. Lee. "I asked the Lord to let me see my children get grown and He's done it and I thank Him. I taught Sunday school, I worked on the farm, I picked cotton in Alabama, and I'm still here. The good Lord blessed me to be a hundred years old."

Ida Mae Lee talks to her children every day and she lives only a short distance from her granddaughter. Yvette Bing.

"She is a very positive influence in my life." said Mrs. Bing. "My grandmother is a very spiritual person and I picked up some of that from her. And she's very kind. She's my grandmother but she's like the whole neighborhood's grandmother too. That's the type of person she is. Of course, being 100 years old, she's not as active as she used to be, but when she was younger she was very active in the community."

The elderly have always played a crucial part in stabilizing and strengthening our communities. Their wealth of knowledge and experience are priceless and provide a continuum and a connection that embraces, anchors and directs families and communities in truth and righteousness. And it reminds us to trust in the benevolent power of an all powerful, all knowing Creator.

Mothers and grandmothers (and yes) great-grandmothers have traditionally been the stewards of guidance and the vessels of love and understanding in homes and communities throughout the world, and especially in Black communities in America. "Honor your parents" is the advice Ida Mae Lee gave when asked about maintaining a long and prosperous life. And we are in serious trouble when we forget this, or when we remember yet neglect to cherish our parents and our elderly as we should.

"I want to thank all my children," said Mrs. Lee. "And to tell them to be good boys and girls. To my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren and to my friends, always remember to take the good Lord along with you wherever you go and He will work it out. Trust in the Lord and be of good faith and do good works."

Eugene Lee is her next to youngest child. He says that his mother always instructed him to tell the truth no matter what the consequences, and to keep his word once it is given.

"My mother is a God-fearing person," concurred her youngest son, Ernest Lee. "We didn't have a whole lot of material things, but she told us to always help others if we could. She would share whatever we had and people from all over the neighborhood came to our house and they were always welcome. They could come in and eat and even sleep or stay there if they needed to. And she told me that when you give, make sure it's from your heart and the Lord will bless you."

Such simple, yet effective counseling strikes a chord with most people. And it does so because their very souls are witnesses to its truth. No. we don't need armies of sociologists and psychologists to complicate matters with theories that don't work or that make our world even worse. The solutions and remedies to our problems and tribulations are to be found, says Ida Mae Lee, in the treasure of the goodness of the human heart.

Steven Malik Shelton is a journalist and human rights advocate. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Civil rights activist and radio talk show host Rev. Al Sharpton and rightwing radio show host and political commentator Sean Hannity fired up their troops during a discussion billed as “The Great Debate: President Obama’s Report Card” at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in midtown Manhattan recently.

What do the 2010 Census figures showing the city’s population as 717,777, mean for Detroit and the region?

Drake Phifer, CEO of Urban Organic Lifestyle Marketing, said the census numbers have caused him to recalibrate his expectations of this area, relative to it being a major city. He said it’s both a collective psychological adjustment and an individual adjustment.

“I don’t think, at the end of the day, it’ll have to spell doom and gloom for us,” Phifer said.

He also said that if Detroit hadn’t had some of its political and racial strife, it probably would have annexed many of its neighboring suburbs and would have, therefore, kept its footing as a major city.

Phifer believes there needs to be a conversation regarding whether Detroit could, should or would annex neighboring communities; and that the conversation should be pushed to the fore, because the entire region’s survival relies upon Detroit’s well-being.

With regard to recalibrating his expectations, Phifer said since he was a child, Detroiters have always wanted to consider themselves among the “cool kids” or “big kids on block.”

“We’ve had this collective denial that, at some point, the population in this city was actually going to turn around and begin to increase,” he said. “Instead, it’s been on a steady decline that predates most of my political experience.”

Phifer grew up in the beginning of the Coleman Young era, and was away from Detroit for a number of years. He came back because Dennis Archer “did such a fine job of selling the city, and saying he was going to return the city to world-class city status.”

Phifer doesn’t think Detroit’s population will grow in his lifetime. Instead, he believes a newborn baby will see Detroit’s population begin to increase toward the middle part of his or her lifetime.

Since he doesn’t see Detroit growing in population anytime soon, Phifer believes we need to start using other criteria: The city and region need to concentrate on being better.

He said many of the political stakeholders in the region need to step aside for the region to improve. He believes they have been gun-shy about big ideas, ideas that seem impossible, but are possible and are being realized in other cities.

He cited high speed rail as an example.

“Once we decide we want to do it, as a region, it will be done,” he said.

Phifer contends that things will begin to improve from a livability standpoint before they do from population standpoint, as evidenced by what’s going on in Midtown and Southwest Detroit.

Asked about Mayor Bing’s plan to “shrink” the city, Phifer said the proposition is so complicated that it likely won’t happen.

“It’s not something that’s would be easy to achieve,” he said. “We’re not just talking about Monopoly pieces here. We’re talking about people’s lives and emotions.”

He acknowledged that something has to be done to help Detroit rebound and admitted he doesn’t have the answer.

He pointed out, however, that Detroit brought about some of its current problems. As an example, he said the construction of I-75 — which might well have been a necessity — led to the destruction of once-vibrant neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods never rebounded.

Today, Detroit might need another paradigm, according to Phifer. He suggested that new paradigm is occurring in Midtown, Corktown and Southwest Detroit.

He pointed out that at least 30 people he knows personally have relocated out of state, a fact he finds depressing.

On the other hand, he’s spoken with people who are moving back to Detroit and want to be involved. He said while it seems there is a nonslowing exodus out of the region, there is still a hopeful influx of talent into the region.

Community activist Francis Grunow said the fact that we’ve had a drop-off since the last census is a wake-up call, but no more so than it’s been in the last 50 years or so. He also said that while we have to be concerned, because of the need for change, many other cities operate very successfully with Detroit’s population numbers. Instead of focusing on the numbers, Grunow said we need to focus more on making Detroit a welcoming place, so that people want to be here.

Grunow, who has advocated for electing City Council members by district, said going to council by district will help people begin to feel government can be accountable to them on the micro, local level, where there are people looking out for their interests.

He said having a council by district system with a smaller population would be a good way to get a smaller population to come together around common issues.

Grunow noted that we’re in a flat growth region, and that a strong message coming out of the census results is that we as a region can’t afford to keep doing business as usual.

He also said that logically, we’re all Detroit, no matter how we feel about that. How we manage that in terms of government is another question. Annexation of other parts of the region is one answer; consolidating some city and county functions is another; and setting up authorities to look at certain areas of oversight, like transportation and planning, is a third.

“There’s lots of options,” he said. “I just believe the status quo is not working with a capital n-o-t. There are other models, there are other places that are able to think and govern more regionally. We must be open to that as an option going forward.”

For Christianne Sims, who started her company, Urbanize(D), earlier this year, and has been involved with quite a few young professional initiatives, the census numbers haven’t necessarily made her reevaluate her plans.

She also said the census data serves as a wake-up call to local and state government and business leaders to step up, put their differences aside, and work toward making a positive impact.

In the past, Sims asserted, stalling has typically been the name of the game.

Sims said government and businesses aren’t necessarily responsible for retaining people, but they are responsible for putting a lot of things in place that would make a city more attractive, and improve the quality of life.

She believes light rail would be a sign that the region is starting to improve.

“Hopefully the census results will show that we can no longer afford to be grandstanding,” Sims said. “Especially because Detroit is the largest city in the state and is the state’s anchor.”

She said the longer we wait, the worse it’s going to get.

Five buses packed with Michigan’s best and brightest graduating college seniors poured into Detroit, most impressed with the opportunities they had previously been unaware of. The journey came days after census data showed the city had lost 25 percent of its population. But then again, 20-somethings are known for “going the other way’’ and spotting opportunities their elders miss.

LiveWorkDetroit is part of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s new focus on attracting and retaining talent from more than 20 colleges.

“Our goal is to attract, retain and develop talent,” said Amy Cell, MEDC senior vice president, talent enhancement.

“Retaining our college graduates is a top priority of our team and of the MEDC. This will be the first of many programs and initiatives to connect Michigan students with great places to live and work.”

Participants arrived at the Fillmore Theater at 10 a.m. and were welcomed by Stefanie Ridenour (program manager for MEDC’s Talent Enhancement program), Shannon Holmes (chief of staff for Mayor Dave Bing), Quantez Pressley and Bryan Barnhill (office of Detroit City Councilman Charles Pugh), and Jennifer Berkemeier (Fillmore Detroit).

Throughout the day, students toured the best places to live, work and play in the city with Inside Detroit, a nonprofit local tour company.

Stops included the Guardian Building, the Heidelberg art project, R. Hirt Jr. grocery store in the Eastern Market, Willy’s Overland Lofts, Avalon Bakery, Bureau of Urban Living, Belle Isle, Earthworks Urban Farm, City Bird, and the Lofts at Merchant Row. Participants enjoyed a lunch break and tour of the Detroit Institute of Arts, where they heard from Sue Mosey, president of the University Cultural Center Association.

Students, many from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, repeated a similar mantra: they had been to Detroit before to attend concerts or sporting events but had no idea just how much the city has to offer.

“The passion of the people in Detroit was very impressive,” said Jeremiah Rivera, a political science student at Michigan State University. “They had the LiveWorkDetroit participants very excited.” Following the Inside Detroit tour, participants converged on the Compuware building for a networking event with employers from Quicken Loans, General Electric, Compuware, GalaxE.Solutions, My- InsuranceExpert.com, Franco Public Relations, Marketing Associates, Honigman, Berg Muirhead, Crain Communications, Digitas, Chrysler, First Element Entertainment and Illitch Holdings.

Detroit boosters Dan Gilbert (founder and chairman, Quicken Loans) and Peter Karmanos (CEO, Compuware) kicked off a line-up of speakers, all of them young Detroiters, that included Hostel Detroit founder Emily Doerr and Bickbot.com founder Henry Balanon. Reactions from students, partners and employers were overwhelmingly positive. Whether the students had never been to Detroit before or were looking at the city from a fresh perspective, they couldn’t stop talking about how worthwhile LiveWorkDetroit is.

AARP Michigan recently added a new Detroit chapter to the fold in Ravendale, a 50-block community on Detroit’s far east side on Harper Avenue near I-94 and Chalmers Road.

While speculations are rife about what Gov. Rick Snyder will do with Detroit Public Schools, Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is set to answer questions about the critical future of DPS at a special education breakfast forum Feb. 18 on the campus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Fairlane Center, North Quad E.

Through Jan. 15, the Impact Network is holding a telethon called Detroit the City of Hope, to help in its efforts to give back to the community.

On Jan. 3, Michael Porter became executive director of Think Detroit PAL Jan. 3.

Within just the last few days McDonalds, Walgreens, and the online media company Gawker have become victims of data breaches. In the latter instance, emails and passwords for 1.3 million people were compromised.

Heralded as a “Global Giant” in the soon-to-be-released book, “DRIVEN: A Tribute to African American Achievement in the Automotive Industry,” Kevin W. Williams is featured as one of the most influential people in the automotive industry.