Who are Boomers?
October 9, 2007
Who are the Baby Boomers? If you were born between 1946 and 1964, it’s you and me. During those 18 years, 76 million children were born. Today, approximately 30 percent of the US population are Boomers.
The first Boomers have now arrived at the beginning of the sixth decade of life, and the last of the boomers are in their early 40s. According to statistics, a good number of Boomers will go on to live well into their 80s and beyond.
With the realization that the 40s and 50s may only be the half way mark in longevity, Boomers are examining what expectations to place on the second half of life and how they want to define, and redefine, what it means to grow older.
What will the coming decades of life for Boomers look like in the next 40 years? Likely, we will continue to be active. Creative. Curious. Adventurous. Engaged in social causes. Pursuing passionate dreams. Arriving at retirement without retiring into a marginalized ageism. Starting our own business or transitioning into a second career. And ultimately, working from the wisdom that comes with age to create a vibrant society and healthy planet as the legacy we leave to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Growing older and remaining a young-at-heart and youthful-in-spirit participant in daily life is not something uniquely Boomer. In every generation, rare individuals defied the considered norm of expected decline in growing older by maintaining an energetic zest regardless of chronological age.
What is uniquely Boomer is a penchant for rejecting the status quo of tradition for tradition’s sake and the precepts of accepted social norms as immutable. Combined with the value placed on individual freedom in forging a self-styled lifestyle based on nothing predefined before it, and the awareness of the power of group consensus without formalized organization, Boomers have the ability to move in unity as a very large and collective whole. The influence and potential to affect a profound worldview change in societal attitudes and personal philosophies at every stage of life has been inherent. Now, as Boomers face aging, what it means to age is about to change.
The sheer numbers of this generation, and how they will navigate growing older, will make the paradigm shift in the perspectives and experiences of aging fascinating times.