What's a Generation?

Hello, my name is Dr. Joe Azzopardi and I am passionate about uniting different generations in a community.

More times often than nought, problems that take place within a community – whether that be a church community or a work place, are due to one generation not understanding or not respecting another generation.

Whether we’re talking about disputes regarding team collaboration, or music style, or how one leads a group – when there are different age groups involved, their generational differences are often barriers to unity.

But it doesn’t have to be that way – generational differences can become what makes a community more functional and stronger.

I’d like to take you on a journey to better understand how to build and maintain an intergenerational community.

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This session is called, What’s a Generation? And we’ll be talking about what it means to be a generation, and why each generation is different to each other.

To start of with, let’s talk about what a generation actually is.

Most people would say that a generation is a group of people who were born at a similar time period.

And that is true – however, what most people don’t realise that is only half of what defines a generation.

The other half of the definition has to do with the culture the group of people were born into.

You see, a generation is considered a sub-culture of its own.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say we’re looking at two people, both born in September 1981.

However, one person is born in Auckland, New Zealand – while the other is born in Moscow, Russia.

Will they grow up with similar values and perspectives just because they were born at a similar time?

No, not at all!

Why? Because someone growing up in Moscow during the 1980s and 90s will have a very different experience to someone who is growing up in New Zealand at that point in time.

You see, what you may already realise is that people in the same generation have a tendency to have similar perspectives and values when it comes to their basic outlook on life.

But that’s because they share a similar timeline and culture.

Of course they are not completely the same – everyone has unique opinions, values, and perspectives because everyone has a different experience and makes their own unique choices in life.

However, the more similar their experiences have been the more likely they’ll see the world.

For example, many people who went to school in the 80s in North America will have a memory of sitting in a classroom and watching the space shuttle Challenger blowing up live on the air in 1986 killing 7 astronauts including a school teacher.

There’s reasons why Gen X have bit of a pessimistic view of the world.

Events like these are called, Formative Events.

They are shared experiences of a generation that take place while they are developing as people – so roughly between ages 4 and 22.

This can happen on a small level, like a tragedy or a significant event taking place in a school community.

Or it can happen with things like the Challenger disaster, or the Moon landing, or 9-11, or the bombing of Hiroshima – these are all Generational formative events.

And these shared experiences, whether they are a single event – or perhaps just a routine, such as going to full-service station when you need fuel in the 60s, or listening to a modem turn on in the 90s, or having to wear a mask during the 2020 pandemic

These are shared experiences that only people from those time periods will understand.

It’s these experiences that give each generation their characteristics, their perspectives on life, and their value preferences.

And unfortunately, it’s usually these differences between generations that cause misunderstandings, frustration, and sometimes even rage.

So, if it’s uncomfortable why would you want to have a community that’s made up of several generations?

Simply put, it’s because no generation can stand alone.

We’re better people for having older and younger people in our lives – and let’s include people who are a similar age, but from a different culture.

You see, what makes each generation unique can be something that is beneficial when they’re all working together.

Lots of studies have been done which shows how the young benefit from their elders, in terms of learning, in terms of resources, in terms of purpose and identity.

And the same is true of older people benefitting from those younger.

The young share new information, share new ideas, push the boundaries, and invigorate older generations – not to mention, legacy cannot be attained without the young.

Some generations have strengths of independence and resourcefulness.

Some have higher optimism, some are more entrepreneurial, some can multitask better than others.

All generations have been through hard things and can lend empathy to different situations.

Diversity in a community means that there are more perspectives on how to solve problems.

Diversity means there’s a certain amount of challenge and discomfort – which some would say isn’t good, but we actually need those hardships to grow and learn and become better people.

One of several employments I’ve had in the past is that of a church minister.

And one church in particular I pastored was a young adult church – to which to start with I thought would be the perfect church.

But, the longer I was there the more I saw that this was not the case.

There was nothing the church offered for children, and so very few kids or teens were present.

This meant that whenever a young couple got married and had children, they would inevitably leave the church to go elsewhere – and I couldn’t blame them.

It meant there was no one younger for the young adults to mentor, and so they didn’t know how to teach or disciple.

And not having older people meant there were very few people who would mentor and disciple them.

They didn’t have the experiences of the older generations to help them make decisions.

And I want you to imagine what potlucks, the shared meals we would have looked like!

When everyone got together it was chips and cookies!

As much as I love chips and cookies, we needed other things at the table – like main meals!

Roasts, and salads, and homemade goods!

And young adults going through college are not known for having a lot of money, so you can imagine how well we were going financially!

We needed other generations in the church, or we as a community were going to die.

We need each other, no generation can stand alone.

And the healthiest community you can create is an intergenerational one.

In our next seminar, we’re going to talk about what it means to be an intergenerational community.

I hope you’ll join us.

I’m Dr. Joe Azzopardi, helping you unite the generations.