When we were in our 20s the phrase “don’t trust anyone over 30” echoed over and over like an anthem for the times. It is often credited to Jerry Rubin, activist and founder of the Youth International Party. It was really Jack Weinberg, the civil rights and Berkeley free-speech activist, who made the statement to get rid of a reporter that was bothering him with endless questions.
No matter who first said it, it was a naïve way of hanging onto our youth, thinking we were more important than anybody else, trying to deny we would ever change as we aged, and that for sure we would not become our parents. Now we are well past 30 and planning where we want to spend our retirement years.
A poll of owners and renters age 55 and older conducted by the National Association of Home Builders and the MetLife Mature Market Institute gave interesting results. One-third of those polled would choose a suburb close to a city while another third preferred to be slightly farther away. Twenty-five percent like a rural community and 9 percent want to be right in the heart of the city. Nearly eighty percent of those polled want a single story home and most say they want it to be the same size as their current home. Twenty-seven percent said they were not concerned about the impact of home building on the environment. Twenty-three percent said they were concerned but it would not be a consideration when they purchased a retirement property. Thirty-seven percent said they want an environment-friendly home, but are not willing to pay extra for it. Only twelve percent said they would pay extra.
I noticed that no one in the poll said they wanted to live in a commune where everyone shares in the crops that we all helped to grow. In summary, most boomers prefer single-story living in suburbia. It sounds exactly like the way most of us grew up in the 1950s and 60s. It seems we have come full circle and will end up pretty much were we began.
And where are Jerry Rubin and Jack Weinberg today?
Jerry Rubin was born July 14, 1938. He was, ironically, 30 years old in August 1968 at the Democratic Nation Convention in Chicago when he was part of the group arrested for conspiracy and incitement to riot because of the Viet Nam anti-war protests. He died in November 1994 at the age of 56 when he was struck by a car while trying to cross in the middle of the block on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Jack Weinberg has continued to be an activist for free speech throughout the world and is now 69 years old.
By Paula Scanland
ElizabethL said,
December 18, 2009 at 10:00 am
You’re very insightful Paula. I believe that as the boomers begin to retire, the housing market may begin to recover. A lot will be purchasing homes or building on a piece of land they own- which will in turn create more jobs (pulmber, carpenters, ect….) It’s only a matter of time before things begin to look up