Columnist calls retirees to lead a ‘generativity revolution’

 “It now seems clear that the only way the U.S. is going to avoid an economic crisis is if the oldsters take it upon themselves to arise and force change.…Only the old can lead a generativity revolution — millions of people demanding changes in health care spending and the retirement age to make life better for their grandchildren.”

–New York Times columnist David Brooks, 2.1.10

In a February 1, 2010 op-ed, New York Times columnist David Brooks challenges older citizens to organize around a “cause of unselfishness.”  Without such a “spontaneous social movement, as he calls it, he believes today’s children will be robbed of money, freedom and opportunity."

Debunking old beliefs that aging brings on a sort of self-centered withdrawal from societal engagement, he points to recent brain research that shows the brain is capable of creating new connections and even new neurons all through life.

“A series of longitudinal studies, begun decades ago, are producing a rosier portrait of life after retirement. These studies don’t portray old age as surrender or even serenity. They portray it as a period of development” Brooks writes.

Brooks points to Harvard author George Vaillant, who describes one key to healthy aging: “generativity” — providing for future generations. Seniors who perform service for the young have more positive lives and better marriages than those who don’t. As Vaillant writes in his book Aging Well, “Biology flows downhill.” We are naturally inclined to serve those who come after and thrive when performing that role.

Yet Brooks contends that we seem to now be living in an age of reverse-generativity.

“Far from serving the young, the old are now taking from them,” Brooks writes.

How are they doing that?

1. They are taking money—Brooks quotes statistics showing federal spending of $7 on the elderly for each $1 it spends on children.
2. They are taking freedom--As more money goes to pay off mandatory spending promises made mostly to the old, the young have less control.
3. They are taking opportunity—rising tax rates and high pension costs are squeezing education spending in many states.

“In the private sphere, in other words, seniors provide wonderful gifts to their grandchildren, loving attention that will linger in young minds, providing support for decades to come. In the public sphere, they take it away,” Brooks writes.

He calls on a “spontaneous social movement,” similar to those that elected Barack Obama and now spurs the Tea Party movement, around a “generativity revolution."

“It now seems clear that the only way the U.S. is going to avoid an economic crisis is if the oldsters take it upon themselves to arise and force change…. Only the old can lead a generativity revolution — millions of people demanding changes in health care spending and the retirement age to make life better for their grandchildren.”

Read the column…