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Let's Get Young and Old to Solve Problems Together

That's the idea behind Re:Generation and Bring Your Boomers, experiments in sharing power and ideas across age lines.

By Robyn Smith, 23 Jan 2012, TheTyee.ca

Watch this video on Gen Why's "Bring Your Boomers" nights, and see what happens when the conversations that matter are made more inclusive.

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The Occupy movement was a reminder that power and responsibility is held in the hands of a few, and mostly within the same generation -- the baby boom cohort.

Never mind that younger people will shoulder the burden of decisions made at high levels today -- rarely are they allowed at the table. Frustration at that fact is one reason youth drove the Occupy movement in its early days. Why, then, did Occupy eventually draw support from across the age spectrum? Perhaps after seeing rising inequality shrink their children's opportunities, some Boomers were moved to join. Or maybe, in increasingly shaky economic times, other Boomers saw their own good fortunes at risk.

It was a glimpse of what happens when generations with different strengths and concerns come together. Whatever becomes of the Occupy movement, it has already shown the need for those wanting social change to pursue a cluster of questions:

What could be possible, if Boomers let Generation Y into the room, with a real willingness to collaborate on solutions?

What if young people gave those powerful Boomers a respectful ear?

And what can Boomers learn from Gen Y that is vital to creating a better future for people of all ages?

Kevin Millsip wants to find out.

A Vancouver Gen X-er who's worked in the youth activism realm for years, 42-year-old Millsip organizes public events that bring generations together to talk through issues that shape cities and communities, and work collaboratively. At this moment, when humanity faces what Millsip calls a "gong show" of complex challenges including climate change, food security and peak oil, he believes there are important lessons to be shared between old and young.

"It's not possible that any one group or any one generation can deal with all this stuff on their own," he says.

This week, Millsip and colleagues are once again testing the collective wisdom of the age spectrum with the launch of Re:Generation, a series of four events designed to tackle issues surrounding Vancouver's Greenest City Goals, including transportation and local food.

The first in the series, "How We Move Our City," is set for Wednesday, Jan. 25, and promises four transportation tales shared by four different generations. To start, pre-Boomers from the Transit Museum Society will reminisce about Vancouver's commuter tram days. A Boomer will recount her battle against a proposed freeway extension through Chinatown in the late 1960s. A Generation X-er will speak on the creation of the car co-op now known as Modo, and a duo of Gen Ys will conclude with their company, Shift, a bicycle cargo delivery cooperative.

WHO'S A BOOMER, WHO'S X, WHO'S GEN Y?

The dates defining the three generations -- Baby Boomer, Generation X, Generation Y -- are a bit different in Canada compared to the U.S. And not everyone agrees on the Canadian frames, which therefore can overlap, depending on the source. The broadest definition of a Canadian Boomer is anyone born between 1947 and 1966. Most broadly, Canadian Xers are said to be born between 1960 and 1979. If you were born after that, consider yourself Gen Y.

But Re:Generation won't just be a cozy story-telling session, Millsip says. He recognizes the inherent tensions between generations, and says events like Re:Generation provide a space to have "difficult conversations" about any awkward perceptions.

"I've heard this a lot in the work I've done with young people, that young people are the leaders of tomorrow and they're our future, which technically is true," he says. "But at a pragmatic or real level, I feel that gets said so that people who are in charge now don't have to actually take responsibility for the mess that's being made."

'We are all intimidated by each other'

Donald MacPherson, a self-described Boomer involved in changing Canadian drug policy (he was the City of Vancouver's top harm reduction policies implementer for years), attended one of Millsip's previous intergenerational gatherings. He remembers one of the exercises, which asked: How do you think other generations see you?

"It was quite funny, because nearly all of the groups started with the negative. The Boomers said, 'Oh well, we're old and in the way. We're not savvy, we don't know how to run Twitter and Facebook.' And then it gravitated towards 'Hey, just a minute now! We're mentors, we have lots of experience and wisdom.' And the millenials were the same. 'We're just seen as young, stupid, Twitter freaks, and no one respects us.' But then they gravitated to, 'Well we're smart, energy, we know technology, people are always asking us for help,'" he remembers.

MacPherson says he learned that the younger people in the room were looking for respect, and adds they had a lot to offer, though fewer doors are open for them.

"I think [Kevin's] really trying to get people to think about where they are situated in the demographies, their values, their strengths, their weaknesses, how they can learn from others. I think it's really healthy," he says.

While plenty of organizations are trying out intergenerational dialogue at their events, for now the results seem to be mostly talk.

A recent Vancouver conference, XYBOOM, brought generations together to talk about youth unemployment. The day featured panels on recruitment and hiring strategies. Boomers shared tips on how Gen Ys can market their job skills, and learned how to help develop the talents of young people in the workforce. And, of course, stereotypes were addressed.

Early in the day, the participants lined up in order of age and were asked to talk about what they had in common with a few people nearby. Then they were asked to cross the room and face another generation, meet someone new, and find some commonalities. What did they learn?

"We are all intimidated by each other," a confident Gen Y tells the crowd afterwards.

"Maybe we have high expectations," says another. "We need to break these perspectives, be willing to do the dirty work."

During a break, a cluster of huddling Gen Ys forms in a corner. Derek Kankam says he already has a job, so for him, the conference is more of a networking opportunity. "When we have events like this, the older generation, they look at us differently," he points out.

Next to him, Nicky Cheung, unemployed, says the exercise did change his perspectives of Boomers. "I feel like they're a lot more open than I assumed they would be." But when asked if he thinks the conference will land him any job opportunities, he smiles.

"Uh," he says. "Well, no. I guess you make contacts first."

'Storytelling and wisdom sharing'

While events like these may not necessarily lead to something concrete like job creation, those in the activism world say having specific, intentional conversations between generations, in order to share strategies and transfer knowledge, is critical.

The Gen Why Media Project, a youth civic engagement group, runs its own intergenerational events series called Bring Your Boomers. One event took on the question of how to make activism more accessible to regular folks.

"It was kind of this old pastime of storytelling and wisdom sharing we didn't expect," says Gen Why co-founder Tara Mahoney.

Mahoney says part of the inspiration for Bring Your Boomers was that "intentional, intergenerational conversations were lacking," and that void created problems. For one, younger generations are often unfairly characterized by older generations. "Always in this negative guise, always in terms of marketing," she says.

But, she argues, anger and resentment between generations only feeds the status quo. Gen Why's events attempt to move past initial perceptions, with the goal of collaborative change.

"Older generations don't necessarily know much about the generation that's coming up, except for the relationship they have with their kids," says Mahoney. "The younger generation is starved for wisdom. Real wisdom. And they're a bit apprehensive about the future, and all these colliding crises. They're really intent on listening to what older generations did when they faced their crises."

Mahoney says she was surprised by how well the first Bring Your Boomers events played out, and plans to hold another in May. The theme will be belonging.

The Re:Generation event "How We Move Our City" kicks off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at SFU Woodwards World Arts Centre, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. Cost is $5 - $10 on a sliding scale, and free for the "underemployed."

Partners include the City of Vancouver, Greenest City Team, SFU Woodwards, and BC Transit Museum. Partial proceeds will be donated to Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC).

[Tags: Transportation, Video.] [Tyee]

Robyn Smith reports and edits for The Tyee.

21 Comments:

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  • Grania

    16 weeks ago

    Excellent Initative

    Would love to see this at least province wide...in every college or community center....

  • Fiat lux

    16 weeks ago

    Young generations, in all

    Young generations, in all countries and races, are brainwashed from day one to follow the traditions, beliefs, religions, funny clothing and superstitions of their elders, so the elders can have the psychological placebo of believing that they are right in their, often very stupid, beliefs.

    The "Faith conquers all" racket, wiping out logical thought.

    At the same time, the elders know, subconsciously, that their beliefs are, at least for a great extent, a pile of crap, but consciously are ramming them into the brains of the young to justify their own wasted lives, in following nuts and crooks.

    This is why we have alcoholism, drug addiction, now the addiction to electronic gimmicks, and all forms of fashions, musiv which is nothing more than cries for help, to wipe out realities and pacify the subconscious of the victims by diverting their attention, or knocking their brains out even temporarily, so they can't think rationally.

    Over the years I've had many long conversations with scientists, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, when many of them, even 40 years ago, had the feeling that up to 70% of all illnesses have psychosomatic causes, where the subconscious mind destroys the body , to stop it going in the wrong direction.

    There may be a lot of truth in this, as people who have studies history with and open mind, not only as the recording of events, have found out. We can see that all empires and criminal governing/enslavement systems always self destruct by going that fatal one step too far and burning out.

    As we have seen it with the self destruction of communism and can now see the growing self destruction of its idiot twin, capitalism.

    I really hope that our young generations will wake up one day and start asking the ever reborn rulers of the world, why they just don't go to hell, so they can start the Age of Enlightenment ?

    Ed Deak.

  • Fiat lux

    16 weeks ago

    Perhaps our young generation

    Perhaps our young generation should start questioning the garbage that's being taught in our universities as "economics", enslaving their future lives.

    Ed Deak.

    Corporate Welfare gets much more from governments than
    and Social Welfare in Canada

    Corporate welfare statistics are based on a 13 year assessment of business
    subsidies. Between 1994 and 2007, the federal government gave away 66.6
    billion, the provinces - 110.3 billion, and municipalities - 25.8 billion,
    for a total of 203 billion, or 15.6 billion dollars a year.
    That’s almost half of Canada's 500 billion national debt
    Social welfare was calculated by the amount dispensed, the same way that
    corporate welfare was calculated. Based on the 2008-09 year, non-disabled
    recipients are being provided with a total of 8 billion dollars a year.

    Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/314815#ixzz1kGKl5mKS

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/314815#ixzz1kEeRchYG

  • Granville

    16 weeks ago

    Hey. It works. I have been doing it for 15 years.

    In the field I work in - fish and wildlife habitat restoration, it is quite easy to recruit highly-motivated students to help with field work. You just have to understand their needs and motivations, and recognise them for their work.

    It may be more difficult to do in the workplace because there is stiff competition for the money and because new, young managers tend to be the worst kind. Some of them might 'get it' but many are a**holes, intent on exercising their new-found authority and possibly boffing the help. They are jerks.

    The other problem is bureaucracy and bloody-mindedness. Most bureaucrats think only of the liability incurred by hiring or working with younger people, and it goes dead-set against the grain of the union mentality that pervades life in BC.

    If you want to know my secret formula for success, you are s.o.l. The field has been mined out by exploitive managers already and anyone who works with minors must have a clean criminal record.

    Mentoring is a good idea, but in practice, there are few opportunites to make it work. It is no panacea for high youth unemployment.

    Now, if all the barriers to doing business could be overcome (and you would have to shoot a few people to do that) we could do all kinds of useful and productive work in the community. I just wish I had a dollar for every *beep* coward who raises the liability issue. I would be a millionaire.

  • rumrunner

    16 weeks ago

    Message for Gen-Why

    I’m even too old to be a Boomer. I don’t mind that so much because I find that the Boomers, not withstanding the good intentions, have screwed up real bad. Yes I use Twitter and Facebook – I even have my own website.

    I want you to know that I think I know the basis for all our problems. (Notice that I include myself with you.) I am terribly frustrated with the status quo but the difference between some of us and most of Gen-Y is that some of us know what the real problem is and know how to start fixing it. But we need your help.

    The Occupation movement has done a great job pointing out the major complaints but none of the participants have any idea what to do about them. All that’s been accomplished is to point out the problems.

    Well a few of us pre-boomers were raised to find the problems and find a solution to the problem instead of just complaining about it.

    Generally, most problems concerning the public were caused by government involvement and are usually due to mismanagement and incompetence. There are many reasons for this and two of them are greed and ignorance.

    This has caused Gen-Y to consider the words “politics” and “politician” as profane. They don’t want to have anything to do with either. Well guess what – you’re going to have to get your hands dirty. The only way that you’ll ever be able to control anything is to control your government! And how do you do that? Take over a political party and elect the people you want. Then you can make some changes. Which party doesn’t matter although there are a few that would give you a head start because they propose mostly the things you want.

    Then and only then will you ever see true democracy and control your future.

    You have two choices:

    Sit there and Complain

    Or

    Do Something About It

    Now You Know How.

  • judycross

    16 weeks ago

    What a good idea

    especially since information sharing on the internet is under constant attack.

    "ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small "club" of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc). Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries."
    http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/censorship/what-is-the-anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement.html

  • Granville

    16 weeks ago

    ACTA has nothing to do with this issue. Pulease!

    It is just one more excuse for doing nothing, like the insurance libability issue. I really do wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard that excuse for doing nothing.

    When I was growing up in the 1960's we had a "generation gap" that was so big, the UK government convened a meeting of people that included Mick Jagger and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The objective was to foster communication across the gap. The older generation had no idea what was going on with their own kids and many parents were totally clueless about teenagers because values had changed so much post-war.

    Mine was the last generation of "you must get married and have children", a phrase I often heard from the mouth of my mindless mother, who had never heard of Thomas Malthus.

    Today's generation is about extreme sports, ecstasy, video games and sometimes hockey. All I know is that some of them share my own concerns for the environment and I connect with a few of those.

    That shared concern - whatever it is - will be the key, and the driving force will be the older generation who want to reach out. Most of the youth I work with are totally impressed - NOT! - by my generation. They see us as the resource-vampires an they are right. We are their problem and if I were 26 now instead of 62, I would be calling for programmed euthanasia to break the healthcare and pension deadlock.

    Not only do we need to mentor the X-Y-Z generation, we need to get out of their way when they want to fix things. As Dylan said, "The old road is rapidly fading. Please get out of the new out of the new one if you can't lend a hand for the times they are a-changin'.

  • alive

    16 weeks ago

    Orange wave

    Well rumrunner, young people certainly got involved with the NDP in Quebec last election!!

    Can we hope that this "Orange Crush" will spread over the rest of our country?

    Or are we stuck with "know-it-all" youngsters?

    I am also a preboomer and my observations are that the boomers were a self absorbed lot who allowed things to slide.

  • snert

    16 weeks ago

    Preaching to the choir.

    Don't show up unless you agree with the agenda as we set.

    A lot of stereotyping going on in this article.

  • greengreen

    16 weeks ago

    the ability and desire to contribute knows no bounds.

    I was to one of these events some time back, partly because Judy Rebick was one of the participants. I must admit that I was not aware of this "divide" between boomers, x'ers and y's. Isn't it rather ridiculous to assume that all boomers are like this, all x'rs are like this, and all y'ers are like this, and that because of one's age, one must be at odds with those from another age group? Such superficial age-groupings at that!
    Reminds me again of my "pet" saying...Stereotypes can assume a life of their own, rooted not in reality, but in the myth-making made necessary by our need to control our world.

    ps. I am a boomer.

  • Ahda

    16 weeks ago

    open up definitions

    The concept of broadening the conversations by diversifying the participant population is bound to yield a richer mix. However, I would suggest that human beings, even with common chronology, do not necessarily conform too social norms. Any period of adulthood offers a multiplicity of experiences. Recruiting participants as characterized by era and age ensures a cross-section of the population but I think the social experiment should recognize the limitations of continuing the generalization based on those criteria. The risk is that self-inflicted stereotyping become short hand, and it does not allow for the many other facets of human experience beyond number of years lived. The Elder has no exclusive claim on wisdom nor youth on idealism.

  • Jerry Munro

    16 weeks ago

    The War of The Generations....

    What a crock!

    I'm a pre-boomer, born 1938, and I have straddled and interacted intimately with those who fought WW2, through to the anti-Vietnam War generation and beyond.

    It's not about ageism, or the clash of generations, but about the "class war". Ageism and the attempt to foster a war between the generations is part of the ruling class, thus far successfully controlling the class war, scam.

    The reality is, we have much to teach each other. That's what I've been finding over at Occupy. The central reality being, though we sometimes speak a different language, with different code speak, we revolutionaries from "the old left" are really fundamentally speaking about the same things, couched differently some, with this new rising batch of "revolutionaries". Over the course of dialogue which, such as myself only has to flexible, creative, and aware of the ideological nuances, that are not chasms, but tiny rivulets one should not turn into a raging torrent.

    We are entering into a "new" revolutionary period is the reality. And it's a revolutionary period that, for all its cosmetic difference, is really not that different texturally and in content from all that has been going on across the entire history of capitalism.

    Once we get the "language" sorted out, in my view, the rest of it falls into place quite simply. A new revolutionary period is breaking on us, whether we know it or not.... there at the Caterpillar struggle going on back east, in the great clash building around Gateway, and in the overall deepening economic crisis of capitalism.

    It's taking a learning curve, of course. At the same time, it is all coming together, at its own pace and in its own way.

    Pay attention. Everything we thought we all knew is being tested again. But "the revolution" is still on.

    By the by, Goodle and check out OccupyBC.
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/101438176638772/150519708397285/

    Love, Peace and Revolution.

  • Jerry Munro

    16 weeks ago

    By the By

    Fait Lux. You should be over there. Do check out this site. I know they would love you... old fart. :-)

  • Fiat lux

    16 weeks ago

    Thanks Jerry, but I find

    Thanks Jerry, but I find facebook boring. I'm on the food safety site and do write a few words now and then. Remembering our years of starvation, food has been a very important thing in our lives.

    At the same time, I fully support the Occupy movement and expect it to grow when it finds its feet and words on what to say.

    One of these days they may even discover that "Wealth can not be created, only taken" and then nothing can stop them, because the world's and history's idiocies, wars and all problems originate with those few words.

    At the same time, how many young people are on the Tyee, or even watch the news ?

    No time. They're texting.

    Ed Deak.

  • Cynic

    16 weeks ago

    I'm a boomer and an idealist.

    I'm a boomer and an idealist. Back in the day I strove to understand, did yoga, meditation, workshops, seminars... and then I achieved Enlightenment. Someone taught me where money comes from.

    These meetings are well-intentioned and wonderful but where's the beef? It's virtually useless unless someone somewhere includes in the discussion the intimate role that money plays in our lives and shows how the scam works. And points out that we'll never achieve our goals as long as we remain ignorant about it. As long as the banksters rule, no change.

  • Granville

    16 weeks ago

    I never realised how many BC'ershave candy floss fo brains.

    This thread is about inter-generational mentoring. It seems to have gone off-track.

  • Granville

    16 weeks ago

    Let's test this idea, then....

    The City of Nanaimo has a monster white elephant. We have a conference centre with a hole in the ground that was supposed to be a hotel. Our council and administration have yet to wake up to the reality that the conference centre is dead. It was never a viable option, and with the crash of 2008, it is as dead as a piece of three-week old road kill.

    If you are under 30, please give me your ideas for the possible uses of the existing conference centre. What facility could replace the hotel?

    The best answer will receive a small prize.

  • zalm

    16 weeks ago

    In Nanaimo?

    How about a reeducation centre for narcissistic libertarians and federal Conservatives who insist the world revolves around their morning cup of coffee? Should be constantly filled...

  • Fiat lux

    16 weeks ago

    The real disaster are people

    The real disaster are people who still follow the lies communists, capitalists and conservatives are brainwashing them with to capture their minds and bodies.

    Ed Deak.

  • Granville

    16 weeks ago

    Zalm: thanks for the reply

    You may be onto something.

  • morechatter

    15 weeks ago

    Peace Brother

    Not war said the boomer to the newbie on board.
    The boomers world is handed over to the next generation what ever shape it is in and seems only reasonable the old take a part in the new.