Silver Tsunami or Splendid Seniors?

Sep 30, 2011
Christine Jarvis

tsunami: splendid! - Tommy Schultz - image used with permission

Rising tide of baby boomers threatens to sweep away pensions, drain health care systems and destroy everything in its wake. Or does it?

The Rising Tide

The word tsunami—wrongly translated as “tidal wave”—is now being applied to a “rising tide of baby boomers” threatening to sweep away pensions, overwhelm health care systems and worse. The media scream silver tsunami and alarm bells sound everywhere.

Chris Orestis at ProducersWeb describes 2011 as “the year of the Silver Tsunami," telling us that from January 1, 2011, ten thousand baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964— celebrated their 65th birthdays, and “every day going forward approximately 10,000 more baby boomers will turn 65 for the next 19 years.” Be afraid.

BeyondChron warns, “Silver Tsunami: Boomer Wave Coming, and San Francisco Not Prepared.” Be very afraid.

In Canada a Toronto newspaper reports, “Silver Tsunami of baby boomers turning 65 delayed in Canada.” Canada won’t be spared, but the full force of destruction will hit a year or so later than in the United States. Take a breath, Canada. The wave will still hit but Canada has a year's grace.

Tsunami: Origin and Flow

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary gives tsunami its current environmental meaning: a long, high sea wave caused by underwater earthquakes or other disturbances. The word comes originally from the Japanese tsu (harbour) and nami (wave). It should be noted, the dictionary does not mention people with silver-coloured hair in relation to tsunami.

Language Evolves But a Piano Will Never Be a Horse

Words sometimes derive their meaning from the context in which they are used, but the nature of a thing—its very essence—does not change with a changing label. Call a piano a race horse if you will, but a piano will never run like the wind or eat oats at the end of the day.

The word tsunami has come to mean a powerful force of nature that destroys or at least forever changes a society. Whatever its current perceived degree of destruction, tsunami must not be used to refer to human beings. We baby boomers may be a force to be reckoned with in sheer numbers, but we are not bent on destruction. The world need not head for high ground when a group of silver-agers appears on the scene.

Lessening the Impact

We baby boomers are doing the best we can to lessen our impact on society. We stay active, stay physically and mentally fit, and stay connected. We do not willingly sign up to go into “the home” so as to not overwhelm the long-term care system with our presence. Aging well, and aging in place (in our own homes), is our goal.

We’re with it, man. We’re aware. We golf, we travel, we take our vitamins. We’re Internet savvy. We webcam-visit with our grandchildren across the country. We know a post is something that farmers wrapped wire around to make a fence back in the day, but the word post now more commonly refers to something somebody says on a blog. Yes, we know what a blog is.

The point is, those of us nearing or over 65 are not a destructive element like the tsunami that inundated Japan in March 2011. The young should be learning from and enjoying their parents’ generation, not fearing us.

Splendid Seniors

Jack Adler recognizes “splendid seniors” in his book of that name. From Adler's book:

Sophocles: at 89 wrote Oedipus at Colonus
Benjamin Franklin: 82 when he called it quits from public service
Benjamin Disraeli: at 70 Prime Minister of England for the second time
Susan B. Anthony: 80+ when she formed the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
Sarah Bernhardt: at 78 acted in La Gloire (her last stage performance)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: 92 and still reading Plato in Greek

Some of us splendid seniors didn't make it into Adler's book but we will still be living great lives and doing great deeds just around the block from tomorrow.

So In Other Words…

Do we have an alternative to the tsunami label? Splendid Seniors is a good start.

We might come up with other words for us, once we look upon the millions of people over 65 years of age as a magnificent bridge between past and future. We have been where younger people are going and we've been lighting the way ahead for you. We merit a bit of attention, not just a little respect, and surely not fear.

Next time you read about the silver tsunami, this deluge of retiring baby boomers set to sweep away all you hold dear, next time you cower in fear of a rising tide of silver-haired golden agers flooding hospitals with their medical needs, drowning long-term care facilities in dementia or sinking your pension plan, stop and think. Who built the hospitals in the first place? Who worked to raise health care to the level it is today? Who fought for and paid into pension plans before the younger generation was even born?

If you must label us at all, call us, as Jack Adler does, splendid seniors. And look for your copy of The Republic. You might have time and inclination to read Plato once you turn 92. As poet Robert Browning said: Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.