Back in the days of the mid sixties Berkeley riots and the Free Speech Movement when Jack Wienberg introduced the phrase, “…don’t trust anyone over thirty.” , it became the anthem of a generation.  That generation is now approaching, or even on the other end of that generational divide.  No longer youths, no longer the engine of economy, the sixties radicals and their peers are on the end of another generation gap.  While at the time of Wienberg’s comment, the generation gap was between the disenchanted youth and the adult world that drove societal standards a gap that still remains, another gap exists as healthy seniors struggle against their own alienation from that same adult world that drives societal standards.

Within the imagery of the generation gap, there appears to exists three distinct socio-cultural groups, each involved in their own life state.  The youth are the students, the ground level workers and the employment seekers.  The adult and mid-life group has their hands on the throttle of the societal and economic engine and their hearts in their homes and their families.  The seniors are the ones who, cut adrift from the adult and midlife group, are seeking to belong, but not always sure how to go about it.

All three groups are enveloped in what some commentators refer to as the post-modern information society. While it all may be too much for an individual to sort out, a community may have a chance to do so.  The construction of this community is at the basis of the opportunity the issue of generational gaps present. It may seem contradictory in terms, but individual success may be achieved through community success.