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Boomers, Get Your Civic Groove Back
July 16, 2004, Mercury News Editorial (San Jose, CA)

It's been 43 years since President Kennedy inspired a generation to civic duty in his inaugural address: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.''

As the baby boom generation enters its retirement years, it has the opportunity to heed Kennedy's call one last time, re-igniting its collective social conscience and leaving an enduring legacy.

A new report by the Harvard School of Public Health and the MetLife Foundation encourages America to reinvent aging and community involvement. Blow America's mind. Shake up the Establishment. Alter the way Americans think about what it means to be a senior citizen.

Boomers turned the world upside down once before in the Sixties, as the report notes. But then they went to work. Made bread. Not to mention war. In the process, they lost their civic groove. Boomers now vote less than their parents did. And they're less likely to join community groups.

It's time for boomers to rally again in unprecedented numbers -- not just to protest injustice, as they did in their youth, but to help solve neighborhood and community problems.

Imagine the possibilities. An influx of educated boomers could transform schools. Tutoring, coaching, organizing after-school programs. Creating a safer, warmer environment for their grandchildren.

But as the report points out, boomers will have to drastically alter America's mindthink to accomplish the goal.

Many organizations will have to change the way they look at senior citizens, and seniors have to change the way they see themselves. The peak years for Americans to volunteer are typically ages 35-44. People approaching retirement are not only less likely to be asked to volunteer but also increasingly less likely to do so.

At present, only 40 percent of seniors are volunteers, and a majority do so for less than an hour a week. Maybe more would volunteer if they knew that active volunteers live healthier, longer and more fulfilling lives.

Meaning that the more they do for their community and country, the more they will be doing for themselves.