Let’s listen and immerse: A response to ‘Let’s do this, Boomer!’

My dad, Rapa Lopa, published an article entitled: “Let’s do this, Boomer!” (BusinessWorld, June 26, 2023) where he suggested that the problems we face today cannot be solved in just a matter of months or years. Instead, he laid out the real possibility that it could take generations to fully realize a future where the problems of today cease to exist.

Given this long time horizon, he calls for each generation to build on each other’s efforts. In particular, he asks the older generations to engage with the youth and guide them towards manifesting their preferred futures. On the other hand, he calls on the younger generations to reach out and seek wisdom from their elder counterparts — for they have experienced their fair share of successes and failures.

He called this effort as a “cross-generational collaboration” that encourages each person, no matter their age, to contribute towards building a better future.

To follow through on this call to action, Rapa and his friend Men Sta. Ana wanted to meet and see how their two cross-generational groups could collaborate. The former works with the young and prodigious people at WeSolve Foundation, while the latter is engaged with the young and progressive policy analysts at Action for Economic Reforms (AER).

I found myself lucky enough to join their captivating discussion, tagging along to La Creperie in White Plains. Our night began with us talking about the myriad problems that pillage our country today. Among the problems raised were involuntary hunger, corruption, lack of infrastructure, climate change, and lack of economic opportunities. However, by the end of an hour-long discussion, we were still exploring how the two groups could move forward. We kept asking ourselves: “How can we work together?” followed by the questions: “What particular issue should we tackle? And where should we focus our efforts?” Without any conclusive answer to these questions, we walked out the doors of La Creperie with leftovers — not from our meals, but our unanswered questions.

Days after reflecting on our “take home” questions, I realized that we may have missed out on discussing the realities of those we aspired to help. While we talked about the complex systemic problems that were affecting them, we did not give enough attention to the actual experiences of their hardship. In a metaphorical sense, we had a bird’s eye view of the forest — but we were unaware of what was happening in the thick of it. This led me to suggest that for our next steps, we should move from the restaurant into our communities — to listen to and immerse ourselves in the struggles of those we wish to serve, and go on from there.

Now, I am not only suggesting this to ourselves, but perhaps to anyone who wishes to make our country a better place. Instead of focusing on “what” issue to address, we might need to engage the “who” we are trying to help. We could simply begin this by asking ourselves who are we trying to serve? And how are their lives today? Searching for these answers could then encourage us to engage troubled communities and allow us to discover other realities that we may not be directly experiencing. Then, while engaging, we can start asking the “what” with our “who” (e.g.: What issues are we facing? What should we do together to solve them?). Here, we will be challenged to listen and understand perspectives that may be different from ours. Yet, from their answers, we can then identify more effective solutions that capture their realities.

I am not saying this will be easy. Truthfully, I myself cannot claim to fully know and understand the realities of those who I wish to serve — their stories, their experiences, their hopes and their desires. Hence, in addition to my dad’s call to action for intergenerational engagement, I encourage those who will choose to take this on to listen more and immerse ourselves with those who we wish to serve. We will be challenged to be more empathetic. Yet, I also believe that this intergenerational effort should not just be limited to a select few. Rather, everybody has a stake in the future; therefore, every single person deserves to be involved in creating a better one. On that note, “Let’s do this Boomer!” Or perhaps better yet: “Let’s do this, Boomer, at Kababayan!”

Carlo Lopa is currently taking his Master’s in Futures Studies at the University of Houston.