It's our world, what will we do with it.
We are all responsible.
Health and aging explorers was not what we signed on for. As a generation the baby boomers has been on the forefront on many an important discovery. However, as we saved and planned what our golden years would entail, so many of us wanted to enjoy the peace of travel, the ability to do what we wanted and not what we were suppose to do, open a new door on our life that would allow us to do and experience a life without a clock and meeting a goal set by someone else.
In many cases, there is no choice to return to work and put ideas of retirement back on a shelf for now. Frequently we have found ourselves wanting to begin another career to help our financial status to remain comfortable. In some cases we have found a way to make both the life we had hoped for and the life necessary come together and work for us. This has been an educational Mt. Everest to have happen for us, but if wanted badly enough we can do it. Some have returned to school, some have found a life in volunteerism and some have begun a second career.
Many have wanted to help people in need, as we accomplished in the1960’s and 1970’s (example, the U. S. Peace Corp). This new goal may seem a long way from happening due to our evolution through raising a family, rising to the top of our career whether absolute or due to our specification. Maybe we can make that happen right here in our country, watching the homeless, educationally challenged and disabled struggle to meet all the challenges in their life. However, what is most important is we are helping those who do not have the means to help themselves.
Many people of our generation are wanting to help those we fought against in wars and police actions we did not believe in or we left our country to keep from putting our personal beliefs and values in a closet while we did what we were ask to do. And while ‘sucking up’ our own beliefs, to meet an obligation placed up on us, we now want to revisit those places and people, to give back. We may want to help people we were side-by-side with while meeting that challenge or perhaps those; we faced and still had to fight against. This was a very dark time in our nations history and some believe they have been forced to play a game set before them. Whether right or wrong, our lives were changed forever, as was the projected path of our country. Now in our golden years we want to do all we can to educate the younger generations to see what was really happening. We can do this by working with several different groups who also try to help others understand what we could not.
Giving back to our community and our neighbors is a promise we have been raised on. No matter the situation we have each had times that we helped our friends and neighbors. We have looked on as natural disasters and man-made disasters plunged our communities into a state that looked hopeless. We have seen water, fire and the land moving, to create a situation worse than any thing we thought possible.
Now we are standing at a threshold of a new experience in life for ourselves. We can move forward and help where we have the ability, not everybody has the same knowledge or experience, however together we are strong. Whether our neighborhood is looking at a disaster of epic proportions (ex. the homeless) in our nation or a homemade mistake of no oversight (taking care of our veterans) or perhaps a home burned down the street from us, there are things we can do and must to help each other. Baby Boomers have struggled to work with each other for the good of all. It has never been easy to accomplish these goals, while looking for the government to see the problem. We have the right stuff to move forward and help each other.
We do not have the financial structure that we had thought we would have. But what we do have is the knowledge built on our watch to make our community strong. We know how to lobby for the rights and essentials we need from the government. We know how to bring our communities together for the good of all concerned. We know how to address adversity. And above all, we know that our world is not just exclusive to us, it is a resource for everyone on our planet or perhaps within our solar system.
Tom Brokaw named the previous generation of American’s, ‘The Greatest Generation”. We are however the most educated and a moral compass to meet the needs of the planet. When we say ‘conscientious we are referring to the knowledge and strength to maintain our planet, inhabitants and forecast the future needs and shortfalls. We are “The Responsible Generation”. We may not have all the financial concrete poured due to our shortfalls in the early part of this century, but we do have the knowledge to make our way through our life. We may not have the finances – we do however have the knowledge to create a system to frame our community’s life.
Currently in the United States we have two cultures. One culture is made up of those financial solvent and one is financially stripped. The latter includes the homeless, financially dependent on others; while the moned are those who are many times in leadership roles and of an independent group. As members of ‘The Responsible Generation” how we attempt to put plans in place, we must remember we can and will succeed.
