September 27, 2024
Working Across Generations
Aging is not a problem to be fixed or a disease to be cured…It is a natural, powerful, lifelong process that unites us all.
– Ashton Applewhite, author and age-positive activist
Contributed by Binta Dixon, Editor-in-Chief of Exchange Press.
The leaders of today are standing on the bricks laid by foundational change-makers. We have access to more data and modes of communication than ever before. We also have the gift of an immense legacy of resources built by earlier generations to inform our decisions. Yet, what we are lacking today, is a way to bridge the gap in understanding between generations.
I often hear from elders in my community, that they want to share their knowledge with younger generations. I also regularly hear from folks in my generation and younger that they wish they had elders as mentors and supporters. If we all want connection, why is it so difficult to achieve?
One barrier is that the information age is amplifying the Western world’s biases around aging.
Elderhood is an era of life to be revered. There are decades of wisdom to be distilled into creative expressions, actions, new activities, and ways of working. Instead, aging is falsely advertised as a stage that renders you invisible or irrelevant in work and society. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Youth is a time of development. The immense pressure to perform, succeed, and produce, robs young people of the space to make mistakes, evolve, and take calculated risks that seed innovations down the road. Too much focus on having to know it all now stunts growth.
When youth is fetishized and old age is devalued, we lose the joy to be found in each season of living.
We can shift our country’s culture towards intergenerational solidarity by looking towards models that work; past and present.
Indigenous peoples and traditional cultures from around the world are fighting to preserve the ways of being in community that privileges working together across stages of life.
Today, organizations like Generations United create and uplift models of multigenerational community building.
What could a society that sees all seasons of life as valuable, vital, and rewarding feel like? I am curious and hopeful that together we can find out.
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By Jill Bella, Marie Masterson, Teri Talan and Binta Dixon