April 5, 2001 | Read Time: 5 minutes
By LARRY MEYER
Brothers and sisters, unite! In the spirit of the radical 60’s, join the protest! The largest generation that the United States has ever produced is in danger of being tagged for eternity with the nickname “baby boomers.” Do 76 million of us really want to go down in history as a bunch of babies?
We need a name with gravitas. Taking a cue from The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw’s paean to our parents, let us capitalize on the vaunted intergenerational transfer of wealth we’re preparing to receive, remember where it’s coming from, and challenge ourselves to become the Giving Generation.
Our parents sacrificed to save mankind from political despots, and many gave their lives so we could enjoy the advantages of freedom and economic security. The tests we face, though perhaps less chilling than those of the Nazi and cold-war eras, nevertheless are serious: hunger and homelessness; disease and disadvantage; a deficit of civic engagement. Each social ill, at home and abroad, threatens to sap our collective quality of life.
By giving more of ourselves — our time and our money — we can make a dent.
We can do it in any number of ways as wealth from our parents’ generation is transferred into our hands. We can, and should, explore planned giving; check out what our local community foundations can offer in help, advice, and administration; pool our resources with others to get more for our money; and give to the United Way, the Jewish Federation, or our local Y.M.C.A.’s. When we write checks to our favorite causes, we should bump them up by 10 percent, or maybe 20 percent. If it means forgoing a nice dinner out, so be it.
Our parents sacrificed repeatedly, for our country and for us, and it earned them a well-deserved title. Giving till it hurts is the least we boomers can do as we ease into a largely fat and happy middle age and trundle toward retirement.
In making this argument, I stand on my credentials: I’m the fifth of eight Meyers from Hannibal, Mo. We’re a statistically valid subset: four women and four men born from 1946 to 1964, the classic bookends of the baby-boom generation.
My eldest sister began college the week the youngest was born. With our fellow boomers we experienced the cold war and Camelot, the Great Society and the Reagan Revolution, civil rights and women’s lib, Elvis, the Beatles, and disco.
Though two of us ultimately settled in Hannibal, we all lit out for the territory and landed in Colorado and Louisiana, Michigan and Virginia, Manhattan and Miami. Individually and collectively we rebelled and inhaled, shacked up and married and divorced, raised 14 kids and stepkids, and built homes and businesses. We’ve changed careers and religions and politics, and the youngest has already recuperated from her dot-combat wounds. I’m sure we went 50 percent for Bush, 50 percent for Gore, but as the Floridian in the crowd I won’t push for a family recount.
We owe it all, of course, to Bill and Joan Meyer. Our parents were classic representatives of Mr. Brokaw’s felicitous Greatest Generation, they who sacrificed during World War II and helped save the whole planet.
About their crowd, Mr. Brokaw summarizes: “This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values — duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility to oneself.”
My siblings and I have recently gone through the rite of passage of burying our Greatest Generation parents. We find ourselves at the tip of a big wave — that amorphous, much discussed intergenerational transfer of wealth. President Bill Clinton — the first boomer chief executive — estimated that our generation is poised to inherit $12-trillion from the World War II generation. Other estimates range up to $30-trillion, though it is fair to ask how many Americans will actually benefit from inheritances. Whatever the amount, more dollars will be available for philanthropy than at any time in history.
That’s our opportunity: to leave our imprint on the United States and earn the fitting and enduring title we deserve.
Not that we haven’t started. There are indications we’re doing something with that inheritance other than buying sport utility vehicles and Thermidor refrigerators. Americans of all ages gave a record $190-billion to charitable causes last year, and the number of active private and community foundations has more than doubled since 1980 to more than 50,000, according to the Foundation Center.
A troubling indicator, though, is that Americans are not giving more even as we’ve earned more in the long economic expansion. In 1999, the average contributing household gave $1,075, or 2.1 percent of household income, according to Independent Sector. Compare that to $1,017, or 2.2 percent, in 1995.
If we’re going to earn the distinction of being the Giving Generation, we boomers must improve those numbers.
My siblings and I recently gathered in the old homeplace to divvy up cherished family possessions. Our middle-class parents did not leave a fortune, and we’re nowhere near estate-tax considerations. We already knew we had inherited the best our parents had to offer while they were alive. There’s a modest final sum remaining, and we’re now engaged in a spirited e-mail discussion about what to do with the last remaining distribution.
Some need it for their kids’ education or their remodeling projects. I’m lobbying for the creation of a fund in our parents’ honor allowing their earnings to give back to others.
My family isn’t the only one given this opportunity. Boomers are 29 percent of the U.S. population, and by those numbers alone we have the best chance of any American generation to leave a legacy. So let’s learn from our parents. It beats being known forever as baby boomers.
Larry Meyer is director of communications at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami He looks forward to receiving his AARP card in two years and 10 months.
