In the post below on “elders,”
there was a bit of talk about the “others.” Let’s say “youngers” (20-40) and “middlers” (40-60). We can debate when elder begins, even
if, rather than birthdays, it is a state of mind.
Do youngers have a
dramatically different generational sense of themselves and their world? They
were born between 1977 and 1997, hence in the U.S., they were Reagan babies and
Clinton adolescents. The wars of GW Bush drew some of them into war in Afghanistan
and Iraq. When and if they went to college, many were saddled with debt. They
probably had more contact with drugs and drug culture than earlier generations,
but also more knowledge of computers, gaming, internet, and social media. The
youngers among them may have felt the financial crisis at the beginning of
their working lives. The economic, political, sexual, and entertainment culture
in which they swim seems a sharp contrast to that of the “elders,” (over 65). Such
generalizations are usually open to big exceptions. And I haven’t touched on any
of the positives in their growing up.
The middlers were born
between 1957 and 1977; the tail end of the baby boom and the beginning of the
baby bust (1963). Given the dates, most would not have fought in Vietnam. They
would have benefitted from the new insistence that everyone had to go to college:
tuition was still reasonable, especially at state schools and the student debt
problem doesn’t seems to be as pressing as it has since become. Very young in
the sixties, how were they influenced by the Civil Rights movement, the
anti-war and pro-war movements, LBJ, and Nixon (China, Watergate, impeachment)? They may have started their work lives
when good-paying jobs were still available, but are seeing retirement years as
more difficult than they may have imagined—unless they’re fabulously rich (like
you know who).
So it looks to me like
the current crop of elders may be sailing into the best time in U.S. history to
be 65+ (Social Security, Medicare, wheel chairs and curb cutaways, kneeling
buses, and the 10 percent grocery discount on Tuesdays and Thursdays).
How wrong is this
analysis?
