13 million views and counting for one small action.

The American Association of Retired Persons held a contest in 2007 on YouTube of a contest called “U@50″. The concept was to ask for videos to be submitted by people between the ages of 18-30 and expand upon the subject of what they expect their lives to be like at the age of 50.

Although first place was awarded to a film studies student at Emerson College in Boston, it was the second place video that has since taken on a life of its own. Created by Jonathan Reed, the video is entitled “Lost Generation”.

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward.

This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward, so technically it’s not a palindrome.

Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video.  It’s simple and probably took only a couple hours to produce, but now it’s touched the lives of millions.

Maybe the next generation is not so lost as it might seem.