ACROSS THE GENERATIONS

Let's Have a Mix Up

Recently I went to a funeral of a very dear friend.  He was a man in his sixties with three grown up children and young grandchildren.  The large church was standing room only, there must have been 100s of people there.  Our friend was well respected at work, highly active on many committees and an integral part of his community.  The number of mourners was of no surprise.

As I looked around I felt there was something wrong, I couldn't put my finger on it.  The service continued, I glanced to my left, right and behind on several more occasions and still I was puzzled. Then it dawned on me.
There were only six young people there, our friend's children and their partners.

Where were the younger generations?  Where was all that new blood he mentored over the years? Where were the trainees, apprentices, new graduates?

The answer was simple.  They were not there because our friend didn't socialise with younger people. Instead he spent time with his own generation and just one generation below.  I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness.  What a waste!  He was a magnificent man with so much to share.  He would have loved to swap stories, to teach and to learn from fresh new talent.

When I was a child my parents had many parties.  The age range of the guests went from 1yr to 90 yrs. We had a ball.  Everyone laughed together, had tons of fun and inevitably gossiped about one another.  It was normal.  Why don't we do that anymore?

I truly believe we need to mix up the generations.  Separating age groups into 'clumps' of people is not natural and quite frankly boring!  Communicating across all age groups is vital for understanding one another, education and having a good time.  It's healthy.

So let's shake up age specific groups and snap out of ideas of stereotypes that are negative and far too jaded.