Today in class I was relieved to find that we would discuss a topic that was quite interesting to me, and thus makes my journal writing assignment much easier. Today we read and discussed articles regarding the baby boomers and their "shockwave" effect, if you will on our society. The effects of baby boomers on our society are both negative and positive. In the article that I read, The Aging City, I read how the baby boomers, who are soon to be seniors, will drastically out-populate the younger population.
In just ten years, most of the Baby Boomer wave will be seniors, and the cities will have a huge dilemma to face. The seniors who want to continue to function in a society are presented with obstacles; one such being driving. If the seniors, who will inevitably suffer from age-related illnesses, become less able to drive a car, then isn’t it the government’s responsibility to step in and revoke the licence of incapable drivers? If this happens, however, then there are suddenly numerous amounts of elderly people who need assistance from someone younger and more capable, i.e. public transit. The cities can’t just make a bus go to every single seniors house, but without a service like that, they will not be able to go to a grocery store or other such place. So it boils down to a major decision. Should a city cater to the elderly and build new forms of public transit, and the young people be forced to help the old carry on, or should the door just be shut on the seniors, as the city adopts a “survival of the fittest” mentality? Neither sounds good to me, but something has to be done. And right now, no reasonable solutions presenting themselves.
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