Steve Sumerford, assistant director of the Greensboro Public Library is, at 54, solidly a Guilford Boomer.

Sumerford says that as a boomer, he is in the middle. Many at his workplace are younger than he is; while in his life at home, he is becoming more and more concerned with caring for aging parents.

“Most of the time, I feel energized by younger co-workers,” says Sumerford. “I appreciate the fact that so many of them have grown up online and they have a different set of experiences than I do.”

Sumerford says that it intrigues him that so much of what was important to him and to his development growing up in the 1960s and 1970s – including the national conversation about social justice, equal rights and U.S. foreign policy – is largely silent today.

“I think that the fact that what was going on for me in high school and college really shaped me about my career and how to spend my time and money,” says Sumerford. “There is really a cultural clash there that just has to do with perspective in the world. It is amazing to me that people can take so many things for granted.”

Sumerford says that many who are younger consider the gains that African-Americans, women and gay people have made to be ancient history, instead of having a real appreciation for those struggles – and recognizing that what people went through was both dangerous and part of a relatively recent past.

In his personal life, Sumerford says that his mother-in-law is 87 and lives in assisted living in Greensboro, while his mother, who is 77, lives with his 79-year-old stepfather and hour and a half from here in Moore County.

Even with the challenges of being a Baby Boomer, Sumerford says that he is heartened by what he sees among many younger people, who are bringing their own values to the idea of making a difference in the world.

“I am happy to see that there is a growing number of college students and young adults in Greensboro who are getting involved in social change and peace work. They are doing it differently from the way my generation did it and that’s a good thing. They organize meetings and activities with text messaging and blogs. We used to have to turn the crank on a mimeograph machine to get the word out.”