What Would Lizzie Larrabee Say About It Now

by the Rev. Charles A. Gaines D.D.

A sermon delivered by Charles A. Gaines on February 25, 2007 in the West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church of Glendale, AZ

I shall never forget Lizzie Larrabee. Her name, alone, would mark her in my memory. Few people are named Lizzie these days. While serving a Universalist congregation as a student minister some forty-eight years ago, I called on her at the rest home where she lived. She had made a hole in her window screen and fed the birds. I conducted Lizzie Larrabee's funeral. She was ninety-six years old when she died. She was born in 1863, during the Civil War when Abraham Lincoln was President. For me, the name Lizzie identifies a generation that William Strauss and Neil Howe describe in their book "Generations: The History of America's Future". She represents what Strauss & Howe call the "Missionary Generation." It was certainly true about her. Lizzie was outspoken for her faith. It has been estimated that one of every six citizens in Lizzie Larrabee's time was identified as a Universalist or had a Universalist in their family. Lizzie Larrabee, a member of that missionary generation, was idealistic, moralistic, and visionary. Until recently, we haven't seen anything like that since Lizzie Larrabee was alive.

In their book, Strauss & Howe say that the missionary generation is one of eighteen separate generations evident since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The authors offer a whole new theory about how we can identify a person's paradigm - the way they see reality - and general behavior patterns. They claim that each generation has it's own particular characteristics. One generation may have marital affairs and experience divorce, while another may express high family values. One generation may embark on war, while another pays more attention to peace and diplomacy. One may build up institutions, while another may tear them down.

The authors further claim that these generational characteristics evolve from the way its members were reared as children between the ages of five and twelve years old. The paradigm is also shaped by one or more dramatic, newsworthy events that occurred during these pre-adolescent years.

When the authors look at American history, they identify twelve specific generations since the United States was established. Each generation is about 20 years in length, and seven of them are living today, although the earliest includes those over one hundred years old.

Strauss & Howe claim that generational characteristics repeat themselves after every five generations. In other words, children of what is called the Echo Bust generation, those born between 1964 and 1984 share a similar worldview and have similar values as those in Lizzie Larablee's generation.

Margaret Meade, one of the greatest anthropologists in this Century, claimed that the differences between most generations are evolutionary. Parents and children could, with some good will, understand the generational gap between them. But Meade said there is one exception to that. It has to do with people who were born before 1945 and those born afterward. This, she says, is not a gap, but a chasm. Meade uses the analogy of those born before 1945 having lived on the moon. She says that if you were born before 1945, and you try to tell your children or grandchildren what life was like when you were growing up, you will sound to the younger generations as if you were living on some place out in space. 1945 was when the atomic bomb was dropped and it is the beginning of the Baby boomer generation. Because there are so many Baby boomers, their impact on our culture was been transformational, with change occurring so rapidly that there's been nothing like it in history.

So, for example, for the seniors around, try telling someone born after 1945 how we used to watch our radios when we listened to Jack Benny or the Lone Ranger. The idea sounds quite weird, but that's what we did! We looked at our radios, as visions from what we heard came into our heads.

Let me begin with the GI generation. Born between 1905 and 1924, they are confident, rational problem-solvers, who know how to get big things done. They are the Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts of America, victorious soldiers, who know what is right and wrong. They are loyal women who worked on assembly lines and kept the home fires burning while their husbands, fathers and sons were off at war. They are inventors of rockets, radar, penicillin, the suburbs, skyscrapers, and super-highways. This generation had a thirty-year hold on the White House. As today's senior citizens, they still project a boundless optimism and energy.

The G.I. Generation might also be called the Entitlement Generation. The G.I. Bill put them through college. The G.I. mortgage helped finance their mortgage. There was G.I. insurance and G.I. preference for employment. Today - Social Security and Medicare are their entitlements in old age. The monthly check includes annual cost-of-living increases, regardless of income, only one of a few federal programs that does.

The next generation is called the Scarcity Generation. This is my generation. We are the scarcity generation because so few of us were born between 1928 and 1945, a period when the birth rate was the lowest in that century. The Scarcity Generation is defined by the Depression and World War II. Even as young children we also helped win the war. We saved tin cans, tinfoil, fat, and string. We wore our brothers and sisters passed down clothing. Many of us still live with a scarcity mentality: using some item up, and when is no longer useable, keeping it just in case.

We are also apt to be somewhat passive. When I was a child, I was told "Children should be seen and not heard". When I had children of my own, I was told, "let your children express themselves - be quiet and listen to them." Now that I am a senior, I'm told, "old people, be quiet; you don't know what its like." We also live with a great number of oughts, not all of them consistent or reconcilable. We are also mechanically oriented. Therefore, we are confused by our sexuality, life style, employment & faith. We have lived through and endured many of the changes that the next generation of Baby boomers originated. But unlike Baby boomers, we don't know how to respond to them very well. People from our generation are often confused by the choices that confront us. But we make good church treasurers. "We can't afford it" is a motto we enjoy. So we can't afford to maintain the highways the G.I. Generation paved, the schools they built, or the churches we're involved with. No, we just can't afford it. But we are efficient administrators, attorneys and middle level managers.

Just behind my generation is the Baby boomer generation. Former President Clinton is one of the oldest Baby boomers. The generation's character is shaped by the Cold War and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Born between 1946-1964, they are the largest generation in U.S. history. 30% of the population is baby boomers. They're everywhere, somewhat like gnats. They have dominated the marketplace and most advertising is geared to them. When they were children, plastic was in vogue, and "Toys 'r Us" was founded. Remember the film "The Graduate". Now they are middle aged. So in stores, expandable jeans are sold, as are walking shoes, and sex enhancement drugs. Anything the Baby boomer wants, the Baby boomer gets. This generation is comfortable with credit card debt, large vehicles, and four bedroom homes.

Three characteristics identify baby boomers. They are conditioned to having options: from diversity of products to individual rights. They want freedom and more than one way of getting it. They expect a variety of choices wherever they go; even church.

I like the example of the dairy counter at the grocery store. When I was young, we had one kind of milk and we shook it in order to integrate the cream with the milk. Nowadays, a dairy counter is an open-minded person's heaven: all kinds of milk, cheese, yogurts, ice cream products, in so many varieties, it makes my head spin. Boomers are also skeptical about authority. The less government to tell them what to do, the better off they seem to feel. Boomers also want quality. They were reared with quality control in industry, and the influence of technology has created a high tech environment where yesterday's advancement is today's obsolescence. Boomers are relational rather than functional. They seek interaction with people over functioning in roles. Boomers ask that they first get their own needs met before they decide to meet the needs of others. They were responded to as infants, and they want no less than that kind of attention, even now. And before they commit, they want to know exactly what is expected of them.

After the Baby boomer generation comes the thirteenth generation, those born between 1964-1982. The birthrate declined during this period, so they are also called the Baby Bust generation. Also, the sheer numbers of Baby boomers who are older than they are overshadows them. The Baby Bust generation experiences their older siblings as overwhelming them, because the Boomers are primarily in control our culture. Baby busters tend to be reactive to what Baby boomers stand for, especially their libertarian tendencies.

Lizzie Larrabee would feel comfortable with this generation because they are a repeat of hers. They were influenced by the oil crisis, Reaganomics, inflation. They are also aware of being throwaway children because divorce became more acceptable during this period. More of their mothers had to work outside the home so these latchkey kids tend to be cynical, realistic and blunt. Baby-busters are self-motivated. But they also want to know what's in it for them before making decisions or taking action. They tend to be cynical. They don't feel idealistic, particularly since they were young during the oil crisis, and they have seen what Baby boomers have done to our nation. They postpone adulthood: marriage, work, responsibility: as they take longer to graduate from college and often live at home with their parents.

Work must be fun for busters. It is said that they have a terrible work ethic. But actually, if they feel they are contributing to the whole and have some ownership in decision, they are very loyal and hard working. They need to know just where they fit in: no assembly line mentality for them. And no matter where they fit, they want respect and flexibility. They would rather work at a low paying job that is meaningful than a high paying job that isn't. Volunteerism is also in: Habitat Humanity, soup kitchens, on-hands, on-site relationship with social justice and service work. They want to be involved, to change society, to make an individual difference. Their spiritual life is also important to this generation. And finally, they don't like categories, names or generalities. They would disapprove of everything I have said about them: not because it isn't true, but rather, they don't like being labeled.

After the Baby Bust generation comes the Echo Boom or Baby Boomlet Generation. This generation includes those born from 1982 to around 1998, and this generation is made up mostly of children of Baby boomers, so there re a lot of them around, over 72 million or 28% of population are part of it.

Srauss and Howe claim that the Baby Boomlet generation is a repeat of the Millenarian Generation that occurred around the turn of the last Century. Protected as children - with bumper stickers announcing "Baby on Board", they were as babies identified as smarter and more socially aware than any generation we've seen in a long while. They certainly have hi-tech skills so they can easily program cell phones, TV clickers, their laptops, I-Pods and easily set up blogs and their myspace on the web. Computer games are among their greatest leisure time activity. Their character is shaped by 9/11 and President Clinton's impeachment hearings. And drugs, AIDS, and the ozone warming of the planet is their reality. But they are the generation that most accepts diversity, so homophobia, racism, and sexism are none issues to most in this group. Our ideal multi-cultural, open society seems closer to reality with this generation.

Among their characteristics is a short attention span. They are the ADD generation, probably a result of sound bite advertising & television, so they can't focus on things for too long. Video games produce rapid action; commercials are in your face. Violence is more a part of their world. After all, they've seen it all their lives on TV. When they get older, they may translate this into a form of political radicalism. But for now, look at any school playground. You'll see abusive behavior by both sexes, and sometimes violence erupts within the school, despite a security system. This is also the network generation. They are computer whiz kids who can break security codes. They know their way around systems.

Following the baby boomlet generation is the Echo Bust Generation, and it is just beginning. We don't quite yet know its defining characteristics, although they are, of course, a repeat of our earlier GI Generation, They are just now being born and will be for the next ten to fifteen years. They'll not be so many of them so we'll be closing schools in fifteen years.

But Kathleen Deveny in a recent Newsweek article talks about her six year old who loved Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay is a sometime companion with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, so mother Kathleen wonders how her daughter will evolve in her world of organized sports, safe contraception of candidates for public office. With the teenage pregnancy rate down 35% from 1990, there are hopeful signs. So they may be builders who tackle global warming, Social Security, and the military-industrial complex. They may bring a new age of peace in our world - a long time coming.

Well, there you have it. There are differences in every generation and they are important to how we see the world. So the next time you are talking with someone from another generation than yours, remember that his or her worldview is different. If you can translate your paradigm into their paradigm - their worldview - you will be better able to understand one another. If not, you may be seen as a stranger, perhaps someone from another planet who just isn't in contact the virtual reality they know so well.

I became more aware than ever of this several years ago when I was traveled extensively for the UUA and we began talking about promoting our faith on college campuses and welcoming young adults - those under 30 years of age - into our congregations.

Since my younger daughter was twenty-seven at the time, I wrote to her and asked if she would write me a short description of her impressions of Unitarian Universalism. It was a while before she responded, but here is what she wrote, in part:

One of the things I found lacking growing up and even from the UU church here is DIRECTION. I need DIRECTION. I need to hear sermons that make me think, that pose questions and that DIRECT me…. Its great to say that we honor and encourage individualism but what can I do to really honor and encourage that - what can I do to FEEL that in my heart? I want to be INVOLVED in a church service - I want to feel ONE with the rest of the community

Things just get faster and faster - my mind moves a mile a minute - it takes things in at a lightening speed. Going to a UU church was like sleeping - because for me, even sitting still for an hour is slowing down - it doesn't matter what's going on around me. The service moved too slowly, the music is nice, but old. And the people were older - it was all very slow….

Twelve years later, when I moved to Tucson, that same daughter and I decided to visit churches together on Sundays. Our intention was to decide on a church that we could attend together. We first went to the two UU churches in Tucson. She didn't feel very comfortable in either of them. We attended a number of other churches: Friends, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and Methodist. She became attracted to the up-beat liberal Methodist church, which in my mind could easily be a Unitarian Universalist church. When my granddaughter was baptized there, the minister used the words, "I baptize you in the spirit of love and with the spiritual embrace of the universe." There was no "Father, Son and Holy spirit mentioned in the ceremony, and on Sundays, Jesus is hardly mentioned, they sing modern songs instead of hymns, and the five piece combo is energizing. But for me, the music is too loud, there is little poetry, and the minister's sermons, while thoughtful do not move me. So we now go our own ways; she to her Methodist church, and I to a Unitarian Universalist church; each somewhat disappointed, but more comfortable with our generational paradigm.

All generations have their differences, so how do we get along - parents with children, children with parents, the very old with the very young. Certainly, denying that younger people exist and have special needs, as some seniors behave, is no answer.

So let me offer two suggestions. First, I believe, if you really want to understand someone from a different generation, you have a better chance if you refrain from asking them to enter your world, but rather seek to join them in theirs. This requires honest curiosity along with an ability to respect what may seem strange. By asking appropriate questions and being prepared for unusual, unsettling or even weird answers, you will be able to enter into an otherwise distant relationship. Some good healthy awe might result, not only at the astonishing differences that will surface as you ask questions and try to integrate the answers into your own thinking, but also in the expand your horizon so you'll better understand the world we live in or the generations that came before us who made the world we live in what it is. How easy it is for us to be skeptical about the innocence or irresponsibility of the young or the dull rigidity of the old. But when I let myself go to into my daughter's or my father-in-law's world - he is 93 years old - and listen to the way they see things, how they make sense of what they experience, I find myself entering, yes, let me name it - a spiritual realm no different, I suppose, than any new, wondrous idea when it is first discovered.

My second suggestion is to go with the flow of the feelings, not the outward facts. Primary feelings include anger, joy, sadness, shame, and loss. You may never understand the way those older or younger than you experience life, but you can certainly empathize with the primary feelings they use to express it. You may never understand rock, rap or soul music, but you can understand the feelings that create these musical expressions, since Bach and Mozart were moved by them, as well. AS you move beyond your own generation, you embrace what we might call the broader living tradition, now composed of six generations: from the Gis to the Echo Busters.

At the same time, I believe each generation brings to the world something we all need. Call it Hegel's thesis and anti-thesis coming into play. Or call it a divine urge to balance or make straight what is crooked in the universe. One generation's excess often finds a natural reaction in the next generation's reform. And if we take all six of the currently living generations together, we find an intriguing balance that adheres to moderating influences over the decades.

In her poem, "Speech to the Young, Speech to the Progress-Toward" Gwendolyn Brooks, writes

live not for Battles Won. Live not for The-End-of-the-Song. Live in the along.

When we meet one another on our respective journeys, may we remember that life need not be a battleground between generations. Life unfolds in the along. And if we can maintain our curiosity and openness, we'll be all right in wider scope of history. I believe Lizzie Larrabee would agree with this and say we're all right, too.