Through the miracle of modern technology, I am able to write to you today from a desert.
Desert: a wasteland or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population.
The wasteland I am writing to you from today isn't the Mojave or the Sahara. It is the United States of America.
Pete Townsend was prophetic when he wrote about the generation he referred to as the 'teenage wasteland' in his song Baba O'Riley. Although I don't think the prophecy of his words revealed themselves fully until now. Through their over-consumption and lack of reciprocal contributions back into society, Baby Boomers have stripped our country of its heritage and the American dream where the tired, the poor, the huddled masses can come and, through sheer hard work and determination, somehow get ahead and make something of themselves. This used to be the rule, but now I fear it is quickly becoming the exception. Pete Townsend himself said how disappointed he was in his generation, the Baby Boomer generation, because they haven't made significant positive contributions back to society.
Let's try an analogy to see if I can paint a better picture. Let's say the Baby Boomer generation is Marcia Brady, the Millennials are Cindy Brady when she was at the height of her cuteness - you know, the lisp episode - and Generation X is Jan. However, the interesting plot twist to this episode is that Jan doesn't care that Marcia is getting all of the attention. In fact, Jan is happy to give Marcia (or Cindy for that matter) the attention, but she so wants Marcia to use her prom queen status to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, Marcia hasn't set a very good example up to this point. Basically, she went to the Prom and willingly sucked down the roofie martini. You know what happens then. Except in this episode, not only did Marcia get screwed, Jan and Cindy got raped.
This is one of those 'To Be Continued...' episodes, like when the Brady's went to Hawaii. But this time, the cliff hanger to the next show isn't what Vincent Price will do to the kids, it is whether Marcia will wake up from her hangover, realize her downward spiral and go to rehab to kick her addictions to hedonism, money, and consumerism. Will she realize those aren't the things that make her happy? Will she realize that what will truly make her happy is setting the right example for her siblings? Does Marcia understand that she isn't the prom queen anymore? Oh!, how quickly she went from the prom queen to the spinster chaperoning the dance.
Do the Baby Boomers realize they cannot actually live forever and that time for them is getting short? There is only so much time left to try to set things right. Only so much time to make a contribution back to society and redeem their over-consumption.
As Brian Johnson from AC/DC so eloquently put it:
"Hey there all you middlemen...throw away your fancy clothes...and while you're out there sittin on a fence.
So get off your ass and come down here...cause Rock n Roll ain't no riddle man.
To me it makes good, good sense. Good sense, let's go."
2 comments:
Wow, Tim. A little bitter?
Baby boomers are 53 to 65 these days. They've pretty much had their turn running things and are turning the levers of power over to younger folks.
Folks a little older than the boomers, have got some perspective on how well they've done. For instance . . .
We're still here; atomic annihilation is not an everyday worry any more.
We're richer than we were; in fact we're richer than anyone has ever been.
We're healthier and we live longer than ever before.
We've made a lot of progress on things like civil rights, women's rights, and basic human rights.
We know twice as much as we did about the universe from quantum physics to cosmology by way of molecular biology, information technology, and worldwide ecology.
It's easy enough to list the boomer's failures too, but I'll leave that to you.
At worst, I'd give the baby boomers a "gentleman's C," but that wouldn't be politically correct would it :-)
Mr. Rabbit,
You should know Trix are for kids.
Read X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking and perhaps you'll understand better where I was coming from with the blog.
There is no question the Boomers have done well - for themselves. They overconsume and want to keep on consuming while they are living forever and never retiring. Now they have passed the overconsumer gene on to their children - the Millennials. In their wake they may leave the first generation to have a lower standard of living.
Boomers overconsumed psychedelic drugs and sex in the 60s, marijuana in the 70's, cocaine in the 80's, and everything else in the 90's. Now they continue to consume all of the jobs and create the gray ceiling.
Boomers don't know how to retire - they are creating the 'New Retirement.' You know, the Silent Generation (I am assuming you may fit into this category) had a word for what Boomers call the 'New Retirement' - they call it 'work!'
Maybe its time to pass the baton, to start giving back. Bill Gates is a great example of a Baby Boomer doing some good through charitable giving. Are all Boomers bad? Of course not.
Am I bitter? Not at all. I just don't have a humble opinion.
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