In a recent blog, pastor Carey Nieuwhof cited this quote from Douglas Adams book The Salmon of Doubt:
“1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
Some adult development researchers state that we tend to define “the world as we know it” based on what we experienced between the ages of 13 and 15. This is when we are becoming proto-adults and everything that happens in our lives makes an indelible impression on us. There is certainly some truth to this, but we must remember that we are free to accept these concepts or reject them. They are informative but they are not deterministic. If I was raised with a prejudice toward a particular group of people, I have the opportunity to either accept that prejudice or accept it as an adult.
Johnny Pierce recently wrote a perceptive piece that warned about overgeneralizing about generational distinctions and characteristics. A generation is a sociological term that attempts to look at a cohort of individuals living at a particular time and identify common traits. His primary concern was that we tend to paint certain generations--especially those younger than ourselves-- with a broad brush and miss the nuances of individuals within those groupings.
At one point I spent a great deal of time researching the characteristics of certain generations--Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial, etc. Some of the research is very useful but the downside is that it encourages us to place individuals into a box whether they fit there or not. Again, a generational group may have common cultural experiences, but individuals respond to those experiences in different ways.
Although Pierce was concerned about pigeon-holing younger generations, I am concerned about doing the same thing with older generations of adults. According to my birthday, I am part of the Silent Generation, but I was raised by the Greatest Generation and many of those I grew up with were in the Baby Boomer Generation. As a campus minister, much of my early ministry was with both Boomers and Generation X. As a result, I have engaged people across the generational spectrum and can cite a number of exceptions to the generally accepted generational definitions.
When it comes to those of us who are “mature individuals,” we are a very diverse lot. I have become more aware of an inherent bias against someone who is 65 or older. A number of us in this age group are progressive, creative, engaged, and involved. We continue to interact with people of all ages and are making significant contributions to society. Although some politicians have seemed ready to sacrifice us on the altar or economic expediency during the present pandemic, we are still making a difference in society.
In a seminary class recently, a student of median adult age shared about a conversation with other church members about their effort to get over the “We have never done it this way before” barrier in their congregation. They began to identify optimistic and influential voices in their church. They eventually agreed that the person who perfectly fit this description was a 98-year-old woman who had seen it all but still remained hopeful and supported those with new and creative ideas.
Perhaps we would all be more effective if we considered people of a specific age--young or old--as individuals with their own gifts, perceptions, and experiences who can play a unique role in the Kingdom of God rather than as someone to be dismissed as part of a herd. To me, this seems the Christlike thing to do.
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