A Tale of Two Generations

A former law partner of mine set up a very valuable nonprofit organization called The Emeritus Foundation. It placed retired professionals in public interest organizations in need of such help but unable to afford experienced professionals. It was good for all concerned; it brought quality assistance to needy clientele while making retirees feel useful and needed. A recent book, Encore, by Marc Freedman, discusses this group’s widely shared desire to contribute to society. As Nicholas Kristof wrote in The New York Times recently, aging Boomers “may be more remembered for what they did in their sixties than what they did in the Sixties.” Old Boomers needn’t die; they may boom on, it seems.

Add to this population of about 100 million people the new and expanding millennial generation studied by the Magid Group and analyzed by Morley Winograd and Michael Hais in their recent book, Millennial Makeover — MySpace, YouTube & The Future of American Politics, and a very interesting phenomenon is occurring. The Millennials are people born in the mid-1980s, about to reach adulthood in huge numbers and to affect society and politics in a major way, as Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign demonstrates. Their values are community-oriented and they are keenly interested in public service. Their numbers are growing, as are those of the retirees.

Combining the assets of these two groups, we could be entering a major era of public service from the early and late working world, which can make a major impact on social needs. What an interesting partnership of old and new workers working together in the nation’s interest.