The GENERATION GAP

My mother has just recently embarked on a new found freedom as a retired senior citizen.

I’m sure she envisioned her retirement looking much different in the brochure of her mind.

After her twenty plus years of service she should be able

to feel secure and confident in the foundation she helped build.

She devoted over 20 years of service and raised millions of dollars; gained thousands of community connections and nurtured relationships with donors.

This “unnamed nonprofit” released (some might say, discarded her) a year before her scheduled retirement; which was unfair and cruel.

She witnessed the company flush in a new generation of college graduates; quickly swooping in with fancy tech savvy skills, gaining positions and pay grades which her generation had meticulously earned for the entirety of their careers.

Unfortunately, this company treated her as many companies seem to be treating older employees; as invisible.

Forgetting the legacy that formed the foundation.

Forging ahead with a generation whose only promise is the big ideas and the education they carry on paper.

Not, relying on decades of experienced from practiced veterans.

This might be the root of many failures in our corporate climate, I'm not sure we will know until it's too late.

I have watched as she is losing faith in her legacy, meanwhile, I’ve been scrambling to get my own career pursuits off the ground.

According to Google, I'm somewhere in the middle of the GENERATION X and Y, whatever that means; I have the annoying privilege of seeing both perspectives.

I understand her distaste for the younger seemingly entitled generation.

Yet, I notice myself waging a war with myself for not rising to the occasion and becoming the innovator I feel destined to become.

She and I are fighting the same battle on different timelines.

There are no easy answers, only more questions as I ponder this interesting place where all my creative pursuits still crave the nourishment of my ancestors.

So, what are your thoughts?

-LG