In our conversation about the generations that each of us experience, it took on an immediately personal turn when Susan Silverio enumerated the characteristics of those people born to live through the World Wars and the great Depression, versus those of us Baby Boomers, or Generation Xers, Millennials, or since 2000, Gen-Y. These are labels and generalities that raised questions and a few hackles, yet there were also opportunities to see into the larger possibilities for understanding destiny and human relationships.

We alternated between social observations, anecdotes, and brief histories - in an attempt to build up these categories into something realistic enough to think about and use. This conversation became especially substantive when applied to the youngest generation surrounding us now, and the upsurge of challenges they face in their health, education and environment.

There were no momentous conclusions, just an awareness and respect for the complexity of human experience, whether it is looked at macro or micro-cosmically