LAMP-Miami

Central Dallas Ministries hosts a monthly “Urban Engagement Book Club” luncheon where significant books are discussed. Although Miami to Dallas is a bit far to go for lunch, I do take advantage of their reading list. One of their recent books caught my attention: Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America, by Dowell Myers. The author is professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California, and looks at the immigration issue from a different perspective. He uses charts, graphs and statistics galore to state the obvious: the boomer generation is getting older. The twist comes when he asks, Who will financially support them in their old age? Traditionally, the newer generations take care of the previous ones. They provide the money for retirement, medical benefits, purchase the larger homes, and so on. Since boomers had fewer children than their parents, we are looking at a situation where a much smaller generation will be saddled with the responsibility of providing for their parents. This situation is what has driven much of the concern that the Social Security system will collapse under the weight of more money going out than comes in.

Myers suggests that the answer to the boomers’ situation lies with immigrants. Immigrant families tend to have more children, are hard-working, and need many of the homes that the boomers are vacating in their attempt to downsize. Myers uses California as a model for what could take place throughout the country. For the first time, families with Latino last names led the list of home buyers in California.

The message of this book is extremely important. We need each other. Previous generations have built the structure and the climate for a healthy life, and immigrants can provide the manpower and financial resources to maintain it. Rather than being a scourge on our society, immigrants can actually be a part of the solution.

It reminds me of my family. The Holways go back to early colonial years. In fact, one descendant was a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Josiah Bartlett). Among all my dad’s siblings and their children, I am the only male who, in turn, has a male child. So my son will carry on the Holway name. Here’s the interesting part: I am adopted from Korea, and my son is adopted from Argentina. So the one to carry the Holway name into future generations will be the adopted immigrant son of an adopted immigrant son.

This same scenario is being played out in churches throughout the country. Older generations need the younger ones to carry on the work. If we alienate the younger generations, what will happen to our churches? They will continue to age, and eventually die. We desperately need to find a way to begin a dialogue between the generations and with immigrant communities. We’re all in this together.

Jim