Seeing the picture above reminded me of how some people view the world much differently than I do. I don’t claim to always be the pragmatist, or an optimist, but I do like to think that I look for opportunities when others see nothing but problems. I have always been a Mr. Fix-it. I have never seen a process that couldn’t be improved. When I moved into my RetCom (retirement community) two years ago, I saw a number of opportunities for improving things. I tried to implement five different things without a single success. That was discouraging, but I have not given up hope that some day they will see my input as valuable. Those denials stifled my enthusiasm, but it didn’t extinguish it.

One of the things I have discovered about my RetCom is that those born before the end of WWII are for the most part very different from Baby Boomers, and generations after. Many of the people here were never exposed to any degree of technology in their work life, so they have never been willing to accept it in their personal lives. The average age of people in RetComs is 84 years. That means that half, or more, of the people here were born before 1939. I suspect that some even remember the Great Depression.

I have visited about a dozen RetCom and found that about half of them are much like where I have chosen to live. But the other half have embraced the 21st century technology to make the lives of their residents more fulfilling, even for those who avoided it at first. As I saw from a few communities I visited, being technology averse makes the challenge to move into this new century more difficult, but not impossible. I just want to help prepare my RetCom for the flood of Baby Boomers that are coming, and will demand it. The question is, will they accept that help, or will they just continue doing things the same old way?