On Monday morning, a call from HuffPost blogger Barbara Hannah Grufferman got me hopping mad. Barbara called to get my reaction to a front page New York Times article, For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again. It was about how impossible it is to find work once you've passed the half century mark.
I told her I was furious.
All week long I've been telling everyone within earshot that I'm sick and tired of depressing, demoralizing stories about the baby boomers. First we were going to swamp the health care system. Then, set off the so-called pension bomb. Now we're going to be littering the streets as bag ladies.
What rubbish!
The article is a narrow and sensationalized view of what's going on with my generation. Yes, some people over 50 are struggling, and I'll be writing about them in context. But that's not the whole picture, not by a long shot.
I've been tracking something that's just beginning to take shape. Millions of boomers are feeling at the top of their game -- more alive, more skilled and more resourceful than ever. We've faced challenges and met them. And now we're ready for something new.
Loyal readers will know I'm working on a new book about meaningful work after 50, due in January. I wasn't planning on writing about it yet, but this inflammatory New York Times article has forced my hand.
So, I've decided to start sharing stories of people who are what I call "ripe."
And, yes, "RIPE" is the title of my new book. More next Saturday. Stay tuned.
Julia Moulden is an author, speaker and columnist. Follow Julia Moulden on Twitter.
Julia speaks at the Canadian Marketing Association "Make Your Mark" Women's Conference. If you're going to be in Toronto on October 7th, please join us.
New Radical update. The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) is hosting Breakthroughs to Cures, an online crowd sourcing event.
What if you could remove any obstacle, collaborate with anyone, or had any resource you needed? What could you accomplish? On October 7, 2010, beginning at 9 a.m., the MRF is hosting the first 24-hour online idea sourcing for the best ways to break down barriers that are slowing the pace of medical research and drug development. Don't miss this opportunity to engage with big thinkers inside and outside the medical research enterprise in a guided conversation designed to capture the most innovative ideas for getting treatments and cures to patients faster.
Breakthroughs to Cures is not a conference -- it is a no-cost, real-time, online event that allows participants to share their ideas with others in a game-style format. Because you can log on and off at your convenience, you can weigh in for a few minutes with your best ideas or you can watch as your and others' ideas are expanded on and refined by the entire community of participants. The unique game-style forum, developed by the Institute for the Future, has been successfully implemented by a number of professional and corporate organizations to identify strategic solutions to their most pressing problems.
A summary of the best ideas gleaned from Breakthroughs to Cures will be publicly available. Breakthroughs to Cures has been made possible by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio.
Follow Julia Moulden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juliamoulden
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Cheers to you! Kathleen....www.QuintessentialYouDesign.com
Anne-Marie Aigner
Janet Prensky
The Boomer Broads
Hello, I'm young and bubbly, and I'm proud to say, I'm also over 50.
Their attitude towards boomers?
I could write a book. (Maybe I will.)
Basically, they were born too late to experience what I did, so they've decided none of it is really important. All the 60's gave them was caricatures. And I'm one of them. Gotta love it.
Sorry, but "boomer girl power" isn't going to save your generation. Have you considered instead writing a book about how women boomers can avoid poverty?
If that's the case, all I can say is....
That will be the day that we boomers need any advice from you.
Actually, I wasn't offering any advice but simply asking the author if she would consider refocusing the topic of her book to a more practical one.
And don't be so quick to think you won't need my generation's help in the coming years.
Sara:)
www.bit.ly/9OYUY3
.Attitude has so much to do with aging well....
They NYTimes article wasn't saying that EVERYONE over 50 was getting laid off and couldn't find work, it was simply informing the public that Boomers (really over 45) were finding it more difficult than other age groups in finding work if they did happen to get laid off.
And yes, many of us Boomers are doing just fine, but many of us aren't. Its something that the public, and the politicans, need to remember when they are blightly contemplating exchaning traditional medicare from actually paying for your health care in old age to a check which you use to try to get decent health care (what a joke for someone over 60!).
If your life is peachy, great, write your book and go out and hock it. But many Boomers are facing collapsed 401ks, talk about reducing or even eliminating their pensions (teachers), and the concept of having to work much longer at their jobs than they ever anticipated. Fine if you write books for a living, no so great if you handle shipping in a big box retail outlet.
We need to stay positive, but that does not include putting our heads in the sand.