New Seniors

We pre-boomers, those born between 1930 and 1945 and now referred to as New Seniors, still have plenty of dreaming left in us. Yes, life has been good; and, thankfully, the pace of the adventure is not as hectic as it was a few years back. Today, our responsibilities are more important in many ways than when we were working to provide for our families by tending to our careers. Now our job is to use our years of experience to help and inspire family, friends and the community in an effort to make life better and more meaningful for others.

It doesn’t matter what you spent your life doing. You learned how to do it well and that can be taught to another person. Being a mentor to young people is one way. Another way is to volunteer to help those older than you. Or, with the boomers turning 65 next year, you can offer advice and show them how to transition into being a New Senior. Each of these groups needs our help and we can provide it.

Through these simple acts of kindness, New Seniors can rekindle the cooling embers of the fire that once burned brightly – the American dream. Learning and believing is the key to success. And we can tell young people about what we saw in our youth and explain about the faith we had in the future. Our parents instilled this in us during the darkest days of the Great Depression, WWII and the bright days of recover that followed. America offered opportunities and we trusted the words of those who cared about us

The people who taught us, known as the Greatest Generation, are leaving this world at an ever increasing rate. Sadly, those who gave us so much are often ignored. Whether they are living at home or in a care facility, a visit from you would make their day. If you don’t know any elderly folks, there are organizations that could use your services to brighten their days; and, thereby, thank them for what their generation gave you.

Maybe the trickiest ones to help are those boomers turning 65 and the millions trailing them. Cutting-edge boomers don’t think of themselves as 65. They don’t look it, act it or feel like it. This may be true, but there is an underlying fear that goes with the aging process and the lack of power that accompanies this simple fact of life. New Seniors can demonstrate how exciting the next third of life can be to those making the transition and enlist them to start by being of service.

The American dream is not dead it just needs to be healed. And the best medicine is to care about others, to help them but not do what they should do for themselves. Service is an act of love. And the more we love each other the more we will love America.

-NewSeniors Editorial

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