"Lakeside 2020"
By Tony Passarello
December 2004 Guadalajara-Lakeside Volume 21, Number 4

    What changes to Lakeside life might we expect to see as that not-really-so-distant year approaches? Each new generation has brought its updated interpretation of the expatriate lifestyle to the area and it’s almost a sure bet that the Baby Boomers will be no exception. Exactly what kind of “spin” might we expect from a retirement-aged Me Generation that chases down its Viagra with a Starbucks and has elevated cosmetic surgery from a “want” to a “need”? If what passes for culture north of the border has revolved around these self-absorbed creatures for all of their lives, what expectations will they have for life south of the border and how are those expectations likely to change the way life is lived along these shores?
    A half-century of Boomer-watching may offer some insights.
    Whatever else this new wave of émigrés chooses to leave behind, it’s almost certain that creature comforts and unbridled consumption are not likely to be among them. The resulting good news is that the trend of recent years for an expanding selection of sophisticated goods and services at Lakeside and in Guadalajara is likely not only to continue, but to accelerate. Transportation, recreation, retail, restaurants, and healthcare all stand to continue their improvement in the wake of these new arrivals.
    The bad news is that it’s almost certain that the future cost of living is likely to rise more rapidly as a result, and there’s no telling which of the current providers of these goods and services this new economy will displace or what local culture will emerge as the newly imported grapples with the established.
    There is, however, more to the Me Generation than its conspicuous consumer stereotype. For an increasing number of Boomers, working careers are ending earlier than those of their parents, and job displacement resulting from downsizing, outsourcing, and new information technologies is only one reason. The freely-made choice to embark in later life on new careers and avocations driven by personal fulfillment rather than earning power is also on the rise.
    While some may be struggling to make ends meet on the remaining crumbs of looted pension funds and meager underemployment wages, others are flush with the windfall of early retirement payoffs and inheritances from the generation that won the last world war.
    Many of the former will find traditional retirement, second careers, or new avocations north of the border financially unviable. Some of the latter will find traditional retirement unfulfilling. Both types are likely to be well represented among the coming wave of expatriates with the effect that for reasons both of necessity and of choice the number of local businesses and institutions owned by norteamericanos is also likely to increase.
    While the idealism of this generation was colored in the 70s by a generous amount of self-righteousness and in the 80s and early 90s suborned to the “greed is good” mantra, social conscience remains for many an important force in their lives. Today it is not unusual to see on their cars license tags that tout contributions to worthwhile causes ranging from the arts to endangered species, to find in their wallets charge cards from which a percentage of transactions are donated to community service organizations, and to see among their visited web sites those that support donations of frequent flyer miles to favorite charities. The implication is that the existing trend among expatriates toward greater community involvement is also likely to accelerate.
    In the final analysis, however, the determination of how the next generation of expatriates is likely to define Lakeside life may have as much to do with those expatriates already here as with those who have yet to arrive.
    At the beginning of the last century, the promise and challenges held out by the New World to those fleeing the Old was intimately connected to the values of self-selecting immigrants. The values embraced by these immigrants shaped their adopted American and Canadian cultures so profoundly that it would be hard to imagine in their absence the 50 years of history that followed their arrival.
    Today’s Lakeside has a similar opportunity to focus the message of its promises and its challenges in a way that reinforces its current values, and in so doing to influence the types of Baby Boomers who select themselves as its next generation of expatriates. The future of Lakeside can unfold by haphazard default, or it can be shaped through conscious and concerted effort of an engaged and enlightened community.
    (Ed. Note: Tony Passarello’s article entitled “Elusive Lakeside” appeared in the September issue of this publication and presented his view of the values that have contributed to making Lakeside what it is today. Tony and his wife Barbara own and operate “Second Wind,” an information service dedicated to helping Americans evaluate the suitability of a new life south of the border. More information is available at the web site “www.SecondWind.tv.”)