Generations: Past, Present & Future
Kathy Lupfer-Nielsen, Family Consumer Sciences AgentYOU177
You, One World, Seven Generations and 7 Billion people is what this acronym stands for as I discovered when this peeked my curiosity on a Facebook page. I was pleased to discover, that this idea is based out of the Legacy Project. I had read about this project when researching for materials to use with my Generations Together, 5th grade class at Rock Hills. Hum? Generations working together sounds like a good idea for our counties, our country as well as our world.
If you haven’t noticed it, the entire world is aging. In a few years those over 60 will outnumber those under 15 and this will make a transformational impact on our world…the economy, caregiving, politics, the environment, social systems and you get the idea. YOU177 encourages us to dream larger about our place in the world.
Now it would probably cost a sizable amount to enroll in a Legacy Project. The closest one to us that I’ve located in is Tulsa, Oklahoma. But one can easily travel to the website, www.legacyproject.org and learn so much about this concept of dreaming larger and creating a lasting legacy.
Isn’t that what our communities are searching for? Ways to turn dreams into reality, reach out to the larger world and while we might not want all sorts of people moving into the county to bother our peace and quiet, we might need to welcome newcomers and more importantly work together to achieve some common dreams.
The seven generation idea in this project spoke to me in that don’t we farmer types want to leave the land better for the next generations. Don’t the local businesses or heath industries want to reach into the next generations? If we aren’t looking at our lives in this way, we are already behind. Because who will be here to care for the rest of us if we aren’t looking ahead.
On You Tube you can locate Susan Bosak, one of the developers of the Legacy Project, in a short video explaining their concept of developing the 7 generation world. Susan explained that seven generations will not be difficult for some of us or our children to reach as we all live longer. Consider that you are generation one, your parents two and your grandparents three, and so forth…my children are one generation behind me and my grandchildren two generations behind…it will not be uncommon for people my grandchildren’s age to know their great grandparents as the population lives longer. The whole generation idea is to connect with the time beyond ourselves.
Since I seem to be a legacy/keepsake type of person, I feel that Post Rock District residents have so many stories that needs to be collected before people are gone. Use every opportunity you have to get acquainted with the older generation, they have so much to offer.
And the younger generation needs to have some dreams. Dreams for a career opportunities in north central Kansas beyond agriculture and health care (although those are both GREAT careers) Are we working together to provide some new opportunities for them?
Legacy Project has some dream notebooks that could be utilized with our youth. The site features several large communities such as Tulsa, for legacy project ideas and we have some right here in north central Kansas, such as the Radish Patch Community Garden in Lincoln. Most of our communities could use middle income housing…what if we tried to do something that would have multigenerational opportunities. Perhaps there is a way to better connection older residents with young families so they could purchase their first home? Our nursing homes could offer day care for their young workers that could also benefit the residents…check out Showalter Villa at Hesston.
I always thought a housing development in one of our pastures would be neat, out by a pond for fishing and of course providing transportation for residents that could no longer drive. There are just so many ideas out there. Our communities have infinite possibilities if we would communicate and cooperate. Just saying.
