White Paper - New York State Office for the Aging

THE FACE OF NEW YORK – The People
those older and those younger cohorts, providing much enhanced Boomer clout in the
marketplace, the voting booth, public policy, and all those areas of government concern.
Additionally, the growing racial, ethnic, religious, and ideological diversity cited so often
today will be far more obvious, not just in faraway cities or states, but actually within the
families of the children of the Boomers, because there will be many more so-called
“mixed marriages” across all the lines just noted and children and grandchildren will be
of vast combinations of backgrounds. These characteristics will be very valuable and
beneficial as more and more Americans work within the global economy, use the Internet
for cross national communication, and travel throughout the world in increasing numbers.
Our national diversity will enable greater understanding of other cultures and nations and
will make the process of international integration both feasible and desirable.
As these changes occur, and since Boomers and their contemporaries also will be
growing older, aging community leaders will not seem “so old,” nor will they be as
threatening as they once were when the Baby Boomers were younger and said “never
trust anyone over 30.” In 2015, age as a defining variable will seem less relevant because
those positions of community prestige and political power will be concentrated in the
hands of middle-aged and early retirement Boomers. At the same time, there will be
many emergent responsibilities that will shape the lifestyles of the Boomers. Many will
be trying to cope with aging parents, those very people who provided such indulgence
and freedom when they were growing up. It is always difficult to watch your elders
become more elderly, but for people who hoped for eternal youth, this experience will be
both frustrating and in ways frightening. The physical declines that come with age will
occur regardless of most of the now exciting new treatments and advertising promises.
Watching such declines happen to one’s own parents will reinforce the realization that “I,
too, am mortal,” making many Boomers hope for more promises for themselves. The
demands of the Elder Boom will continue to push the envelope for increased and
improved health care, short- and long-term aging care, and parental care. These demands
will bring about many new initiatives, none of which is actually likely to stop or reverse
the aging process, but certainly they are likely to help make the process easier and more
people-oriented. These changes will exact a price from younger generations that follow,
and eventually it will have to be balanced from a societal perspective.
The Baby Boom cohort was raised to believe that they did not have to accept
existing, long-standing solutions to life’s vicissitudes. As the Boomers were growing up,
many institutions came under fire, partly because their parents were committed to
providing “non-Depression, non-Wartime” lives for their children, but also because the
sheer numbers were over-taxing the existing social institutions of the time. Specifically,
vast changes were wrought to the schools of the era; teenage sexual restrictions became
passe and in many instances largely irrelevant; compulsory military service became a
burden too unbearable to allow. The protocols for work shifted massively, paving the
way for a new world of leisure time activities; many religious institutions were altered to
make them “more relevant.” Meanwhile, the Boomers marched on, leading the social
revolution of the late 20 th century.
16