Boomer Generation

The "Baby Boomer" generation, those born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964 that numbers 77 million people, is getting a great deal of attention these days. The Baby Boomers are large in number and have had a huge influence on how things work in the U.S. today. Books have been written about them, business market sales so they appeal to them, they have been branded the "me generation", they changed the nature of politics (I think for the worse) and on and on..... I am a member of this group and see my values and the values of most boomers are far different from the current generation. But it should be that way. A generation that merely copies the preceeding one is not a productive one.

Depending on whether one is a young or old Baby Boomer he or she has experienced everything from the assassination of President Kennedy (the day that ended the age of innocence) to the start of TV (crude but far more entertaining than what is displayed in high def and with extra special effects today. TV is a crude "medium". It is not rare and is rarely well done.), to the Beatles amazing rise and end (which not only changed modern music, but fashion, social habit and probably even more).

These things and more experienced by boomers provide the often cited "generation gap" every generation experiences to some greater or lesser extent. We boomers went form believing "never trust any one over 30" to "kids don't have a proper value system and just won't listen today". The generation gap today is wider than in any previous generation as the electronic , transportation, communication and reordering of social folkways and mores create a huge divide in the experiences and beliefs between non and Baby Boomers. Unquestionably, older boomers redefined American culture and opened it for further definition, the definition today that is as baffling to Baby Boomers as anything they ever experienced in their lives.

I am glad to be a boomer for we lived thought more changes of greater social impact than any previous generation. My memories of the passage through them makes my life seem much longer and richer. Boomers were spoiled enough by the so called "Greatest Generation" that raised them that they were allowed to experience everything and create more.

Still, boomers have given the current generation a mess to clean. The entitlement craze and mentality that someone else is responsible to care for me is a boomer concept that is crumbling not only this society but others. Personal responsibility has never been at a lower level than today. The lack of civility in public life (as in the vulgar protest marches we boomers had in our youth) was paved by the Baby Boomer generation. The institutional breakdowns of marriage, religion, family, public decency all started with boomers and are magnified by today's generation.

I suppose every generation ruminates on the current one with doubt and regret. That's what I am trying to do too. Each one eventually misses "the good old days", but Boomers have some guilt added to the equation. We boomers wonder not only about the seeming decline of this generation, but whether or not the decline is our fault. Maybe some sociologist should rename the "Boomer Generation" to " The Guilty Generation".