Excellent rant from a Millenial to GenX and Boomers

[Taverner]

Open Letter from a Millennial: Quit Telling Us We’re Not Special
by Sierra on June 25, 2012


Dear Baby Boomers and Generation X,
Quit telling us we’re not special.

Believe us, we bloody well know.

Earlier this month, Wellesley high school teacher David McCullough, Jr., delivered what was perhaps the world’s first commencement dirge to a crowd of teenagers on the first day of distinction many of them have ever experienced. Graduation from high school, he informed them, is a shiny induction to the hordes of mediocrity. McCullough even took it upon himself to remind the youth of their eventual funerals. (You know it’s a problematic speech when Rush Limbaugh loves it.) What parting words did the teacher have for those who survived his twelve-minute lesson on nihilism? The paradoxical exhortation to go forth and live extraordinary lives! Because, apparently, we can?

Here’s the rub: this speech is misplaced. It doesn’t belong in an address to the generation graduating into an economy that wipes its rear end with their high school diplomas. It doesn’t belong in an address to the generation who began running the rat race at age 4. It doesn’t apply to the generation that knows hard work guarantees nothing, that can’t hope to own a home before we have our own children, that pours coffee for other people’s parents for free in the name of gaining “work experience” through “internship.” David McCullough ought to have given that speech not to the graduates, but to their parents. We have not yet begun to shape the world: we are living in the one you created. And it’s killing us....


<SNIP>


...Now, we have not only to worry about how to find our way through the dried-up maze without vacant jobs or relief from our debts of education. We have our ticket for the train to success, but it’s run off the rails. And we have to start worrying about you.

How are we going to support you?
Social Security won’t prop you up anymore. Your own retirement savings? As reliable as our degrees, which is not at all. Do we have houses to mortgage? Investments to collect on? Assets to sell? For most of us, the answer is a belly laugh and a no....


http://phoenixandolivebranch.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/open-letter-from-a-millennial-quit-telling-us-were-not-special/#more-1308

[upaloopa]

1. I can chalk it up to inexperience that you don't know this but each generation blames the ones

before it for their problems.

I know us boomers did so did our kids and so do our grand kids. We are put here at a time and place not of our making. You can't escape that. You can only work on the things that confront you.

Maybe we screwed up your life. I don't think you can blame all of us but some boomers screwed up some other boomers lives as well.

I have always been a progressive ever since I could make my own choices.

I was sent to Viet Nam just out of high school and my first grown up experience was war. I didn't feel that it was my responsibility to fight a war started by the "greatest" generation.

It took me at least 10 if not more years to be able to live a "normal" life after the fucking I got.

I can feel a lot of empathy for the younger generation. I had it easier then they will have it but I don't feel that I contributed as much to that as the right wing has.

Had progressives been in control of things I think you would be singing a different tune. And it is not true that all of us 60's hippies turned conservative as we grew older.

[bemildred]

2. +1.

While I do indeed sympathize with the young, it's not all black and white by any means, and it's not like the government has EVER given much thought to ascertaining the public will and following it.

You are quite correct to point out that the political discourse on this subject is largely contrived bullshit.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. This 61 year old would like to take some credit for helping end the Vietnam fiasco

and tell you that, at heart, he's still a hippie.

I didn't do it to you kid. I tried to stop it. I honestly didn't think I would still be waging the same battles in my 60's that I waged i the 60's and frankly, I'm getting tired. It's your turn.

To quote the Berkly barb, "Don't like the news? Go out and make your own." We did.

Edited to add; The more I think about this, the more it pisses me off. We were beaten, billy clubed, maced and teargassed. We were told to get the fuck out of the country. "Love it or leave it" we were told. We were drafted into a conscription army against our will. I saw too many people either die or come back from Vietnam so fucked up that they could not function in normal scociety to count. One of my brothers is still so fucked up from that war that to this day, he lives in the jungles of Hawaii.

It's your turn kid. Let's see if you can do any better than we did. Stop whining and take it to the streets. So far, I don't see you there. I still go to protests, Occupy, etc. Where the fuck are you? Playing video games.

[upaloopa]

5. Just wanted to add to what you said.

We lived with the threat of nuclear annihilation, duck and cover the civil defense and all of that. The Cuban missile crisis were we thought it was all over. John Kennedy's assassination, Dr King's assassination and Robert Kennedy's assassination. The Vietnam war, the anti war movement, the womens movement, the civil rights battles, the riots in the cities, the taking over of college campuses, the Chicago police riot, Kent State, I could go on.

We haven't gotten to most of that lately but I think it is coming around again.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. Exactly! Don't even try to tell me that I didn't do enough!

I tried the best I knew how to make a better world for those who came after. It wasn't enough but don't blame me. Get out and do better!

[marlakay]

93. Its time for the youth to hit the streets like we did

I was talking to my husband about this the other day. We need an army of people like ants out on the streets like when we the people stopped vietnam back in the 70's.

I have been protesting since back then for all kinds of stuff, going to the state capital in CA fighting for the schools in the 80's.

Believe me we don't want the future the kids are facing now, I have fought over the years to protect the future. I voted for Carter and if he stayed in we would have had electric cars 30 years ago. I have fought all my life for union rights, my husband is union. None of this is new.

[DonCoquixote]

14. I do not say all Boomers are bad

But sadly, the amount of people who really were sincere about the "hippie" stuff were the minority, a blessed minority, but one still. Even John Lennon could admit that for most people "nothing happened except we all dressed up."

As far as not seeing "you there" , OWS was founded in part, my milennials. You will see a lot of people of this OP's generation there, and no, not all of them play video games, or for that matter, not all the old hippies smoke grass. Neither the old nor the young need stimuli to image why they fight, it as is solid as a steel hammer between the eyes.

[ohheckyeah]

23. And we fought

for women's reproductive rights and we're right back where we started. I haven't been able to get pregnant since I was 30 but I seem to care more about birth control and abortion rights than the young women are....they think oral and anal sex are birth control apparently.

We fought for the 18 year old vote but many of them can't be bothered with voting. We fought for clean air and clean water - where are they?

I'm tired too, and I have little sympathy for the Millenial. They act like Social Security is a present from them or something - we worked for Social Security (which I'm not old enough to collect yet.) If they think they are having a tough time find a job try finding one in your 50's.

When they get drafted by the thousands or watch their peers get drafted by the thousands and then sent home in body bags or come home to almost non-existent medical care and jobs they can whine and bitch all they want to me....otherwise they can piss off.

We still have thousands of Vietnam Vets suffering from PTSD and now the agent orange affects are being seen full force. I have friends with cancer from agent orange, dying from agent orange related cancer and a family member with numerous other problems from agent orange. Damn - it still pisses me off.

I agree - it's their turn.

[LiberalArkie]

32. I love it when they say "We work hard", yea sitting in a climate controlled cube

and sitting a a keyboard is work. I don't think very many of us boomers had it that easy most of our lives.

It does almost seem to be the 50's again, I don't think I have the fight in me to do it again. At least these kids don't have to worry about not living to be 18 because of the bomb, or 21 because of the war or again 30 because of the bomb.

I never thought once in my life that I would ever get to be 40 and here I am 6 months from being 65. And finally sitting in a climate controlled cube sitting at a keyboard.

It was a hell of a ride from getting my beat in Selma in 1965, to the Moratorium Protests in NYC, to the Womens LIberation to the Gay rights things, hell of a right. I don't think I want to do it again. I sure don't want the firehoses again, although they did cool me off in the summer

So some of the youngsters had better get involved with the Occupation and change things for those coming after them.

[Lifelong Protester]

97. +1!!!!!!

[Jennicut]

7. And every generation has both the good and the bad in it.

I am 36 and am a Gen Xer. My parents are more on the conservative side but they certainly never told me I was not special and could not accomplish something in life. This is going to be less of an issue soon anyway. The baby boomers did have their time and now it is coming to an end. They are getting older (my parents are now retired) and Gen X is too small to take full control. It will be up to Gen Y to start leading the way in 5 to 10 years. I think they will be ready. I know that the generation that my children are part of (they are 7 and 8) will need to step up some day too.

[jeff47]

16. I fully admit that I'm not being rational here

I feel a little extra blame for the Baby boomers. Not all of you individually, of course. But the effects of your generation as a whole.

And I fully admit that there is an irrational bias here. I'm Generation X, so named because marketers never bothered to study us until we were adults - we are too small a market compared to our parents.

Now, the specific blame I have for the boomers is they were the generation that ended up embracing Reagan and his economic philosophy. And before anyone complains, this isn't about individual boomers and what you did. It's about what your cohort did despite your efforts.

Yes, the WWII generation helped as they screamed "you kids get off my lawn". But they knew from the Great Depression and WWII that government can do great things. It was the boomers that locked in the modern Republican party mantra of destroying the government. Complaints from my generation were ignored, since Boomers + WWII vastly outnumbered us, and politicians are going to go to where the votes are. Which resulted in most of Gen X not seeing a point in voting, which lead to a death spiral of influence.

I thank you boomers that fought against this. I'm sorry there were more Nixon youth than hippies. I know you individually tried and did all you could. And I know parents always fail their children in some areas but do great in other areas.

But despite that rational thought, I feel gypped - GenX is significantly worse off than our parents. We have less income, less employment, less job security, and fewer assets than our parents at the same age. And while nuclear annihilation faded as we entered adulthood, there's lots of new threats of annihilation that the Republican monster stops us from addressing.

Eventually the boomers will start to dwindle, and along with "Gen Y" we'll be able to assert political power. Maybe then I'll be able to convince more of my cohort that it's worth bothering to vote and we can start doing something about it.

[Paulie]

36. You said it well. Thank you.

[Le Taz Hot]

47. I tried to stay out of this . . .

but I just can't do it. I'd like to counter some of the points you made because they're so often repeated and yet so erroneous.

Someone upthread correctly pointed out that the 1960's activists were only about 10%, but this isn't the entire Boomer generation, it encompasses primarily the 18 to 25 age group so in reality, the numbers are VERY small. It's difficult for the generations behind us to understand the impact of those changes because you've never known anything else. You take for granted that abortion is safe and legal (Mississippi notwithstanding). There are no more Jim Crow laws (though the conservatives are giving it a good try with the voter purges). Women can get credit in their own name without a husband or father being needed to co-sign, even though SHE'S the one with the job. You get the picture. The remarkable thing is the great number of things those few people accomplished, not only with small numbers but in a relatively short time. The social changes were truly revolutionary and became part of the fabric of this country, or at least they were.

If I may:
J47: ". . . they [Boomers] were the generation that ended up embracing Reagan and his economic philosophy."

Rebuttal: First, I would say be careful by using the word "Boomers" as there are 33 million of us and we're as different from one another as you are with those of your generation.

Second, Reagan got into office due to several factors here are what I think are the primary reasons:
1) Iran was holding several American hostages and the Carter Administration had been unsuccessful in negotiating they're release which made the Administration seem weak. (Btw: Look up "October Surpise.&quot Further, the nightly news kept a count on how many days the hostages had been in captivity so we were reminded of it daily.
2) There was a tremendous surge in Republican registration due to two factors: a) the Democrats had "lost the South" due to the mid-60's Civil Rights legislation and b) the Republicans decided they needed the "God vote" -- i.e., the Evangelical Christians whose numbers were large and who could be easily manipulated. Heretofore the Evangelicals had been on the sidelines, pretty much relegated to "looney" status that is right up to the time that the Republicans gave them legitimacy and aren't we all glad they did that?

One last point on this issue: "Reagan Democrats" was a media meme to explain the surge when, in actuality, VERY few of these people were ever Democrats in the first place (other than in the South).

J47: "Yes, the WWII generation helped as they screamed "you kids get off my lawn". But they knew from the Great Depression and WWII that government can do great things."

Rebuttal: Not to take anything away from "The Greatest Generation" as I had 3 uncles who fought in WWII so I can appreciate the tremendous sacrifice. But . . . "The Greatest Generation" were also fine with Jim Crow laws and women as second-class citizens. Very little was said when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put in concentration camps but German-Americans or Italian-Americans were not. There's more but I think the point has been made.

J47: "...It was the boomers that locked in the modern Republican party mantra of destroying the government."

Rebuttal: Please see first rebuttal.

J47: "Complaints from my generation were ignored, since Boomers + WWII vastly outnumbered us, and politicians are going to go to where the votes are."

Rebuttal: We are no more responsible for the numbers in our generation as you are responsible for the numberts in your own generation.

J47: "Which resulted in most of Gen X not seeing a point in voting, which lead to a death spiral of influence."

Rebuttal: Hold on there, cowboy/girl. You're blaming the Boomers for YOUR generation not voting? Sorry, that one's on YOU guys. No one is stopping you from getting involved at any time and with the Occupy movement or in the voting booth, you have many opportunities to get involved, pick one (or more).

I'll not debate your last two sentences as I think you make some excellent points in them. Meanwhile, here's hoping I could guide you to some truths on the issue.


LTH

[ieoeja]

54. German-Americans and Italian-Americans *were* rounded up and put into camps.

The FBI attempted to filter all three groups. As German and Italian cutlure had a lot more in common with the prevailing American culture, they were able to do a better job of separating the guilty from the innocent. The Japanese they largely did not understand. What they did not understand, they locked up for the duration.

Those Germans and Italians who got locked up generally had it worse than the Japanese because we knew they supported the Axis. When the war ended the Japanese concentration camps were shut down almost immediately. The German and Italian camps continued for some time thereafter as they were still viewed as a legitimate threat.

[jeff47]

61. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I wish you had read more carefully

Rebuttal: First, I would say be careful by using the word "Boomers" as there are 33 million of us and we're as different from one another as you are with those of your generation.

And I said multiple times that my statements were not directed at any individual boomers, but what your cohort did. The cumulative effect of those 33 million, not Le Taz Hot specifically.

Second, Reagan got into office

Not what I was talking about. It isn't about the literal election of Reagan. It's about embracing the modern Republican "destroy the government" worldview that he represents. The baby boomer generation embraced the hell out of that, even if some individual boomers did not.

But . . . "The Greatest Generation" were also fine with Jim Crow laws and women as second-class citizens.

Again, different subject. My complaint is the political philosophy that government can never do any good. That it needs to be drown-able in a bathtub. The fact that the WWII generation weren't wonderful on civil rights is a separate issue.

They built our interstate system because of course the government can build a massive interstate system. They went to the moon because of course the government can get to the moon.

Today, we can't get a bridge replaced before it collapses because government can't do anything.

Rebuttal: We are no more responsible for the numbers in our generation as you are responsible for the numberts in your own generation.

However, you are responsible for the numbers in our generation. But that is again a side-issue.

Lots of Gen X-ers have tried to get our political issues addressed, but that ran smack into the numbers problem. So without any political recourse, we gave up on politics. And we are now derided for not being interested enough in politics.

No one is stopping you from getting involved at any time

How many times do you try to lift an 18-wheeler with your bare hands before you give up?

Student loans aren't a new issue. We faced them too. We tried to get the program reformed when we were 18. How many politicians talked about it in the 1988 or 1992 elections? None. There's a lot of similar examples where our issues were ignored.

How do you expect people to remain active in a democracy that explicitly ignores their issues?

No one is stopping you from getting involved at any time and with the Occupy movement

So your argument is we should have stayed involved in politics when we were 20, because people finally started paying attention to our issues when we turned 40?

here's hoping I could guide you to some truths on the issue.

This sentence perfectly encapsulates the problem.

I'm just a kid who doesn't understand, so my complaints can be ignored. Heck, my complaints are poorly read to mean a literal complaint about Reagan's election, and then pat my wittle head and send me on my way. But it's also my fault for not being involved in a political process that has this attitude towards me.

So, take your truths and fuck them.

[daaron]

73. Don't feel bad jeff47 -->

I got the same patronizing responses downthread. It's not just you. I just tried, like you, to point out the demographic skew of the larger number of Boomer generation folks, and am now "biased" and told to get over it and go learn, etc. Patronizing turned to condescension. Totally oblivious to why that might actually exemplify the strawman stereotype of Boomer self-centeredness, rather than our actual argument about demographics and normal curves, which don't have anything to do with any individual Boomer, and everything to do with how many of them there are relative to other age groups.

Go figure.

[Le Taz Hot]

88. Well bless your heart . . .

[HiPointDem]

24. and each new generation is dumb enough to buy into it. but where is that message

*really* coming from?

Divide-and-Conquer, Inc. (i.e. the ruling class)

"and it's killing us"

[malthaussen]

4. It's an excellent rant, true.

But somehow, like upaloopa, I hear the echoes... other generations have voiced the same complaints. The image of Boomers living fat and sassy in lotus-land is as false as the image of the rising generation being a bunch of lazy rat-bastards. I think every generation has to come to grips with the fact that they are the offspring of their parents's dreams, and will always be seen in some way as an extension of them.

As for the previous administration having left things in a mess -- certainly guilty as charged, but again, no rising generation enters into the world of their choice. The "Greatest Generation" handed the Boomers Vietnam, abuses of government power, Jim Crow, and a world of hurt. The cow-pie may be bigger now, but to blame it on the predecessors is to assume that they had the power to change it. What happens when the children of the rising generation accuse them of having increased the mess?

-- Mal

[SoCalDem]

8. Wealth & power trump all, kiddo

Any generation can harrumph & shout into the wind 24-7, but whatever era one "ages into", the vestigial power is always in the hands of the elders from past eras. They are the perpetual puppet-masters, and we are their puppets.

Kids grow up thinking their parents are powerful, but that power usually ends at the bottom of their own driveway.

The Flower Children of the 60's and their parents were fully controlled by elders in power who were born in the 1910-20-30's. Their wealth & position allowed them to seamlessly hand down power to their hand-picked successors..(as it's always been).

We can always use 20-20 hindsight when we try to figure out what went wrong, but we cannot change what has already happened.

Most people try to give their kids what is the norm of whatever era. Pioneer parents often spent money they could ill-afford on stuff like pianos, imported dolls. Modern parents buy video games, computers, cell phones. Parental love is like that. We want to please our kids, and we want them to be happy. Lots of parents since the 70's fell into the trap of time v things, and for many, things won out. Some kids cruised through life with more than they needed, and yet still found their center...others grew up feeling unjustifiably entitled.

As generational power is wrested from those "leaving the building", it often skips over entire generations, so younger folks would be wise to worry more about their own responsibilities, and less about opportunities not offered to or taken up by their own elders.

Truthfully, MOST people are "not special".. We are born, we live, we die.

A few people of real substance ever come along, and when they do, they are often shouted down, derided, and sometimes killed.

Most of us do what we can, and try to lead meaningful lives (meaningful to the ones we know and love), and then we pass the torch.

Caring for elders is something that civilized societies do, whether they can "afford it" or not. Help given grudgingly, while still help, is likely to be repaid in kind, at the end of one's own life. We all reap what we sow.

[Raster]

10. BRAVO! BRAVO!

[MattBaggins]

9. This Gen-Xer would like to apologize for what that asshat said to you

A bitter old man, angry about his own failures felt the need to dump on young folks fully well aware of how shitty life can be.

I wish a special spot in hell for the folks who actually suggested this guy should get a medal. A medal for a mediocre rant against medals for mediocrity?

[TBF]

11. I'm a Gen-Xer too and completely agree with what you said. Nicely done. nt

[pa28]

12. McCullough asked for it and he got destroyed.

I think he'll be feeling somewhat less special himself after reading this piece.

[joeglow3]

13. Sadly, too many of you DO think you are extremely special

That is why my company is struggling so much to accomodate a work ethic (on average), that is less than they have experienced. That is why my prior employer is making tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars consulting with companies nationwide on how to work with people coming out of college.

I am not saying this is a bad thing. I am 35 and bust my ass every day because I feel like I constantly need to do more. Fortunately, I enjoy my job and make a pretty good living (will cross into the 6 figure territory this year). I admire how many of you refuse to put many things above yourself. However, in many cases, it is to a fault. My personal view is that the optimal point is somewhere between the 2 of us.

Thus, while I understand the response is not out of the ordinary (every generation feels this way when they graduate and now know everything), from my experiences, there is definately some truth to it.

[jeff47]

18. Your post would be exactly the same 20 years ago.

And 40 years ago. And 60 years ago. And I bet we could find some cuneiform tablets with the same mesage.

The kids always have terrible work ethic.

[joeglow3]

34. We never were able to make money on consulting 20, 40, 60 years ago.

[Taverner]

65. I have seen more of a work ethic in milennials than I have in my own generation

Just saying

It's the milennials who are taking no pay "internships" with the scant hope they might get a job out of it

If working for free isn't a work ethic, then I don't know what is.

[JDPriestly]

80. That millenials have to do slave labor as "interns" is viewed as a positive thing

utterly floors me.

As for the OP:

Kindest thing my daughter ever said to me: "Mom, you told me I could do anything." Today's millenials can do everything that every other generation has done, and they will. You really have to believe in yourselves and work together.

Another thing my children have told me: "Mom, we were lucky not to have so much. We don't take anything for granted." Unfortunately, a lot of baby boomers spoiled their kids -- and the children think that life is always generous. It isn't. And it wasn't for their parents.

In fact, the OP is quite incorrect in its historical view about the baby boomers.

As one born during WWII, I remember the baby boom. Baby boomers were born to parents who had survived WWII. Many of their parents suffered from post-traumatic stress -- undiagnosed because the condition was not yet recognized. A lot of the baby boomers' parents had lost those years between 18 to 30. Their emotional development was delayed. They didn't have those lighthearted years in their late teens and early 20s. A lot of the myths about how spoiled the baby boomers were created by that WWII generation that was so bitter about the loss of their youth.

When the baby boomers were very young -- toddlers, pres-school and elementary grades, there were so many of them that there was not enough of anything they needed. There really wasn't. Not enough housing. People even lived in the quonset huts that had served as barracks during the war. Not enough teachers. Not enough classrooms. The polio epidemic that was a constant threat. Someone else mentioned cold-war hysteria. Imagine going to school and being required to hide under your desk so that you would be ready for a nuclear attack. And, especially for girls, going to college was not taken for granted. In fact, many baby boomers could not even dream of going to college. It was way beyond their means. They had to get jobs right out of high school.

Personally, I babysat from the time I was very young and even worked for one afternoon a week making deliveries of ads when I was 7 or 8 years old. Boys in the country did the work picking and planting that is now done by immigrants and illegals. Chances are pretty good that your parents worked a lot harder -- physically worked harder -- when they were in their teens and early adult years than you have ever or will ever work. That was taken for granted. It was a mark of an adult that you earned your own way.

Yes. College tuition was relatively cheaper, and tax money paid a lot of it if you went to a state school. But academic entrance requirements were stringent. You had to have a really high test score. You had to have the grades -- and this was before grade inflation.

And then, in the 1960s, it was our energy, our commitment, that changed the world or at least America. Civil rights, women's rights, rock 'n roll, political activism by young people beyond an extent previously known and, as you mention, changes in the areas of advertising and distribution.

Don't feel bad that your generation is not the target of a lot of advertising research. Trust me on this. That is a blessing. The baby boomers have been manipulated, channeled, psyched out and used from the day they were born.

I could go on and on. You have no idea what it is to type a dissertation or all your term papers in carbon copies on an old manual typewriter. We did not have computers or the internet through which to communicate with each other or our parents. The TV and newspapers told us how it was.

A few people marched in the streets and wrote letters to the editor. Those were the limited means through which we could change the world. It wasn't easy, but we older folks -- the war babies and baby boomers actually changed a lot for the better. I remember Jim Crow. I'm glad that kids today do not have to experience or watch that degree of discrimination based on skin color.

As for mistrusting the government -- that big mistake was the result of a big propaganda campaign by the 1% and their friends in the media.

I mentioned the mistakes that we war babies and boomers had to correct -- like corporal punishment for children, segregated schools, no rights for women, discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, etc. Allowing the 1% to destroy our trust in government and in working together is one of the mistakes that your generation will have to correct. That's one of your generation's challenges. I hope your generation deals with it as well as we dealt with our challenges.

One last thing. True, millennials have it tough. But you can say that of all generations. And I agree with you, Reagan was about the worst thing that any generation could do to another. (Obviously I did not vote for him.)

But thank your lucky stars that you are not having to slog your way through the swamps in Viet Nam. The baby boomers did, and many of them never made it back.

[turtlerescue1]

15. Humans are imperfect, ALL of us.

BUT

Life IS a becoming aware process, some of us(myself included) can be just walking along a path, and fall over the same log, repeatedly. Until one day as you are lying on your face noticing the weeds and bushes have grown since your last trip over that log, and you wonder what you could have done differently. You are not in that place yet, don't worry it shows up.

My nephew a GenXer came in one day and said...you were this, and we are that.

We weren't born with erasers on our heads. The best any of us can do is follow where our hearts lead us. I was 13 when JFK was killed. A few years prior, the Bay of Pigs, and there we were close to a SAC base, and having bomb drills in school, getting under our desks-like that was going to help. I remember Kent State. I remember a democrat who had gone to Florida to the Primary there, and gotten tear gassed. I remember day after day of Senior Pictures on the front page of the local paper, kids I grew up with, that in the same week they got their diplomas got that letter from Uncle Sam "Greeting and Salutations" now coming home in body bags. I remember Selma, Alabama. I remember race riots. I remember inequality. I remember that first MLK birthday after his murder, standing in the rain, all seven of us trying to keep our candles lit. I remember the big marches in SF, I walked with the guys who had just got back from SE Asia. I remember the Chicano movement. Walking arm in arm with our elbows locked, not thinking for a moment it would do one drop of good, but still it was on our plate, and complacency and apathy were not exactly doing much to change anything. And I remember working for $1.85 an hour at a large business after graduation. AND I wasn't even out of my teens yet!

No one gets handed a bed of roses, an easy life with fair choices. It can make you bitter, but what good is bitter? We sang, we made jokes-because all of us were sick of crying and being angry.

Look for the poetic justice. When Reagan was King in California, he closed all the mental institutions. Two years later I had this IDEA, in order to have a house on the beach near Morro Bay, would take the training and work in the hospital from the criminally insane.
So decided to see if I'ld fit. The first day..."became aware" what Raygun's action really did, the first persons out on the street were the Developmentally Delayed. Homeless.
It took a few decades but when Reagan was diagnosed, pure poetic justice.

I know my generation TRIED to change the world to make it warmer and kinder. We actually only got a few tiny steps. At least with a diploma NOW you don't get your draft number to go fight in a war that the Pentagon never intended to win. At least you don't get sent to a war and have to be 21 to vote. AND just maybe pot will finally be at least as legal as a beer.

Make up your mind to change what you can, find like-minds and pursue what it is your heart and soul and mind believes in.

Let me close this heartfelt rant: The only reason I ever put on that white uniform was a bet with another nephew, a case of Colt 45 tall cans, to last six weeks working in a nursing home. Weakest stomach ever. One morning I was assigned a guy exactly my age, CP or MD, strapped across the chest into his w/c. As I cleared a space on his table so he could eat his breakfast, on his nightstand was this pine cone owl, under it was written:
"Lilfe, No one said it would be easy." If a giant hand had come out of the sky and slapped me across my face, I wouldn't have been more humbled. Oh yeah, ended up spending over 18 years in nursing.

Be Brave. Be Strong. AND find a reason to keep laughing.

[GCP]

81. Beautiful

Thank you.

[Odin2005]

17. This Millennial is in complete agreement.

I think there is a concerted effort to demonize my generation because we dare expect a just and reasonable society and don;t submit to the learned helplessness the PTB want us to have. This belief gets us called "Narcissists" who "think the world owes them".

[CleanLucre]

19. do you really "expect a just and reasonable society"

or expect that you will have to create it ?

[Odin2005]

20. You cannot create a just society unless you first expect it.

If you have low expectations you will easily submit to oppression.

[CleanLucre]

22. okay but you don't expect it

to be handed to you. Right?

[Scootaloo]

26. No, that would make him a Boomer

"Dude, like... What if we all just like, totally dropped out? Y'dig what I'm saying it's like, woah, right? Like, I'm sayin' if we all went out to the woods and like, smoked doobs and ate cake frosting, it'd be like man, where are all the young people at, right? Right? And then all these old fuckers would have to be like, they'd be like 'dude, these kids have totally got a point' y'dig?"

No, we don't expect it to be handed to us. Nor do we expect much help from the two previous generations. In fact so far all those lot have contributed is more problems with a side of abuse

[Odin2005]

30. LOL

[whathehell]

37. You must be kidding. The Boomers certainly DID go out and make a fairer, more just society!

You can thank us boomers for giving you a "volunteer" army rather than

a draft, because we went out en masse and got our asses kicked,

and in some cases KILLED, a la Kent State, protesting an unpopular war.

If you're a woman who has equal opportunity getting accepted

into college and either has, or can aspire to, a career instead of a Life

Sorting Laundry, you can also thank us for the Second Wave of Feminism

or "Women's Liberation" as it was known initially. Add the Environmental

Movement to that, and I think you may just get the picture,

because if you think your Grand Parents, squeezed between the

Great Depression and World War II , had time to be deal with those things,

I've go a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!


Try watching a movie from the 1950's....THAT is the world we had "handed to us".

What we went out and created for ourselves AND for you is the "difference" between THAT

world and the culture you see now...Whatever it's faults, I think you'd have to agree that it's a tad

more open, tolerant and diverse than the Ozzie and Harriet/ Man in the Grey Flannel suit world WE faced.

[CleanLucre]

39. reality

thanks for posting.

[whathehell]

40. Yes, I'd say so..

and thank you for saying so too!

[Scootaloo]

59. You must be delusional.

1) You did not end the war. You did not end the draft. Money did that. or more accurately, lack of money. You know why hte draft ended, whatthehell? It's the same reason we hire mercenaries to do our fighting now. A volunteer army is smaller, and so the Military doesn't have to shell out all these benefits. And just for a recap, there are absolutely no barriers to reinstating the draft. None whatsoever. Not. A. Single. Thing. It's a simple military policy that can be rescinded at any time by the Secretary of Defense. I'm sure you know this, as I'll bet you were one of the many DU Boomers squawking to have the draft reinstated for the Iraq war. Apparently because you believed the Bush and Cheney kids would be going off to the sandbox, and not your own. Frankly, so long as you got to watch Iraqis die on TV, I don't think you gave a good fuck whose kids it would have been.

2) Fuck Kent State. Kent State ain't shit. Do you know why Kent state is "important" to you? Of course you don't, I'll explain. Kent State is only "culturally significant" because instead of dozens of black kids getting killed by police, it was four privileged white kids. Do I ever see Boomers talk about Jackson State? Absolutely not. Do I hear them talk about the execution of six handcuffed men in Augusta? Nope! Have they ever heard of Orangeburg? What about Escambia? HAHAHAHAHA fuck no, those aren't real people, like the four poor kids at Kent State! You want some self-perspective as related to Kent State, whatthehell? Kent State was one minute where the Baby Boomers had a chance to have even a slight glimpse of what it might be like to not be white. Apparently the experience was so utterly traumatic that, forty-two years later, the entire generation continues to speak of it as if it were the fucking Holocaust or something.

3) I've seen you in a few porn threads, whatthehell. Tell me, what is your take-away message from the bulk of DUers on the notion of second-wave feminism? What I see is a lot of hostility towards it, what about you? And since one apparently can't spit on DU without splashing three or four boomers (all the more reason to spit!) I have to come to the conclusion that second-wave feminism isn't very popular even among its supposed "allies" here on the left. And let's remember, the left does not by any means have a boomer monopoly; it's boomers who are working their considerable asses off to get Congressional panels installed in the uterus.

4) Your parents might have been busy between the Depression and their two wars. But they left you an inheritance. Prior to 1980 and the boomer-led "Reagan Democrat" sweep, we had this notion in the United States called a "union." According to the myths and legends of these organizations, they were in place to preserve and protect worker's rights. They were a major driving force for wage equality and a barrier to the upward flood of wealth. Now, of course, these are myths and legends because thanks to your generation, these things no longer exist except as a few living fossils slowly biding their time like a lone Galapagos tortoise, waiting to die in captivity. You see, your generation has decided that since you are the only people on the planet who matter, you could cash in your inheritance for a quick buck, instead of passing it on. So your children and grandchildren are on starvation wages with unpaid overtime, but at least you can buy some really cheap stuff at wal-mart.

5) The environment. Are you fucking kidding me? Look, whatthehell, if boomers ever gave a flying fuck about the environment, we would have been on a fully solar grid by 1990. Pennsylvania would not have flammable fucking tap water. You would not be able to get a thermometer's worth of mercury out of breast milk. There would not be a Texas-sized sea of plastic in the middle of the north pacific. For fuck's sake, there's certainly ENOUGH of you that if you gave a shit, something could have been accomplished in the last fifty goddamn years. But no, the environment has continued to deteriorate, and you keep clamoring for lower MPG vehicles and fewer of those evil money-restricting "regulation" thingies on business.

6) Movies are not reality. See, this is a persistent problem of the boomers. Not only do you look at "I Married a Communist!" as an accurate portrayal of the 1950's, but you also believe that that made-for-TV miniseries movie from NBC, "The 60's" was an accurate picture of the life every single one of you led. Apparently each and every boomer was at Kent State. apparently each and every boomer was integral to the Civil rights movement. You all showed up at Woodstock, and you all ended the war, presumably through the power of sloganeering and avoiding shampoo.

One could certainly argue that our culture is currently more open and diverse... But it has fuck-all to do with this or that generation. The movement towards equality was not the work of privileged white boys from the 60's, it was not the work of privileged white boys from the 80's, and it's not the work of privileged white boys from the '00's either. It's the work of the people actually working for these goals. In all cases it's multigenerational; both racial and sexual equality have taken damn near FIVE generations to get as far as they have, while gender equality keeps rising and falling (seriously, what the fuck is up with that?) Leaning back into your hemorrhoid pillow and saying "See that, I'm a boomer, that's mine!" is pretty fucking vile... And I can't help but notice that it's only boomers who do this.

[whathehell]

86. Delusions are clearly your territory, dear

and though it's hard to choose among your SLEW of false assumptions about me,

one of the most obvious you make is in regard to those "porn threads" you noticed.

Are effing KIDDING me?....Have you even READ my posts on the porn threads?

You haven't, because if you HAD you would have noticed that I'm no "privileged white boy"

no "boy" at all, and certainly not one of "privilege"....You see, if you bothered to INFORM

yourself about the people you address here instead of going off half-cocked, full of

of hostility and false assumptions, you'd actually LEARN something instead of

embarrassing yourself with this kind of "off the mark" rant.

Let me tell YOU something about my stance on porn AND the birth of the

Second Wave of Feminism, since, unlike yourself, I was actually alive during

and ACTIVE in the latter...If you'd actually KNEW me, or anyone here, I suspect,

you'd know I'm a woman who fights fiercely and frequently ALONE

against those "boys" here that I'd bet are likely NOT boomers, but Millenials and Gen Xers closer to your age!

Movies?...You want to talk "movies"?...I don't need "Movies about the Fifties", LOL..

I fucking LIVED the Fifties...How 'bout You?...I'd bet the "awesome eighties" are ancient HISTORY

for you, for all your almost laughable arrogance.

"Your parents might have been busy between the Depression and their two wars. But they left you an inheritance. Prior to 1980 and the boomer-led "Reagan Democrat" sweep, we had this notion in the United States called a "union." According to the myths and legends of these organizations, they were in place to preserve and protect worker's rights. They were a major driving force for wage equality and a barrier to the upward flood of wealth. Now, of course, these are myths and legends because thanks to your generation, these things no longer exist except as a few living fossils slowly biding their time like a lone Galapagos tortoise, waiting to die in captivity. You see, your generation has decided that since you are the only people on the planet who matter, you could cash in your inheritance for a quick buck, instead of passing it on. So your children and grandchildren are on starvation wages with unpaid overtime, but at least you can buy some really cheap stuff at wal-mart".

Number one: You don't know JACK SHIT about my parents or "their" wars, whatever that means.

You want to "educate" me about unions?....Honey, I've WORKED in unions, and my father was

a Union ORGANIZER in the 1940's, so do forgive me if I imagine I could educate YOU on them, okay?

Number two..You're utterly WRONG in stating the so-called "Reagan Democrats" as being "boomer led"..Boomers

couldn't STAND Reagan....It was "mainly led" by many PARENTS of the Boomers, together with a YOUNGER group aged

between the Gen- Xers and the Boomers...I well remember the 1980 election and Abbie Hoffman, famous for his

"don't trust anyone over thirty" line being recorded saying "Now you can't trust anyone UNDER thirty, as they're all for Reagan".



Again, your problem is you have NO idea of who you are talking to, so your "rant" is pathetic.

Please get to know the people here -- It might save you a LOT of embarrassement.

[Odin2005]

91. A-FUCKING-MEN!

[whathehell]

94. Bwahahahaha!

Gee, Odin, I thought you were one of the bright ones!

As you've informed us, however, you do share Scoot's lack

of years as well, it seems, as her silly anti-boomer bigotry and

her "challenges" with historical fact, lol.

Good luck with all that.

[Odin2005]

100. I am not "bigotted" against Boomers.

I am annoyed by their self-congratulatory narcissistic narrative of themselves, and often taking credit for civil rights advances and cultural changes started by their Silent and Greatest generation elders, even claiming MLK and RFK as Boomers!

[whathehell]

101. If you say so...

I don't see this supposed "self-congratulatory narcissistic behavior"

from Boomers, but then, since I am one, that will doubtless

be construed by some as evidence of my own...Whatever.

For the most part, I see boomers, at least on this board,

as simply defending themselves against everything from the knee-jerk

cheap shot, to what amounts to real vitriol from people who

sometimes seem as if they're working out their own mommy-daddy issues.

In any case, whoever claimed MLK and RFK as "Boomers" was clearly mistaken.

but that's a weak reason, IMO, for the kind animosity that I see on this

thread, and that I've seen on others.

[CleanLucre]

38. haha

every generation knows they have to make it happen. Do you?

[Taverner]

64. I think the blame is on everyone's shoulders - well, except for the milennials

Since they are just now graduating from college...

[Taverner]

63. No you have to take it.

And take it by all means necessary

[Scootaloo]

66. Don't bother, he can't comprehend

He'll just give you the same "lol kids think it just get handed 2 tehm, lolol" sort of reply he's been doing anyway.

[CleanLucre]

70. your post

is in the wrong place or else just wrong

[CleanLucre]

71. one way or another

every generation does. this generation has some real sucky challenges (that speech being one) and some great opportunities.

[tsuki]

25. Welcome to dirty hippisum. Expect to

be demonize for the next 50 years by the Aluminatti and its adherents.

[CleanLucre]

21. great thread

so great that I read the whole essay b4 commenting. A lot of wisdom here in each and every post.

The essay boils down to this. Kid, you grew up in the age of bullshit and you know it. Some good points but some of the imaginings about what previous youth could or should have handed to them is off base.

The wheels are coming off the bus and yes these youth have to scramble now. So does everyone. There is some freedom in that. People are recreating their lives and a new economy, by necessity.

"Even McCullough, in the midst of stabbing our supposedly inflated egos, urged us not to do anything that we didn’t love or feel passionate about. You know what? We don’t have that luxury. That idea is a relic of days gone by. We are not the generation that finds itself in creative abandon. We are not the generation that goes off in search of personal fulfillment and the satisfaction of a job well done, only to come back millionaires."

Wait a minute. When was that EVER the case? That happened to some, not a whole generation. Where is the sense of "the satisfaction of a job well done" and realistic expectations of a comfortable life? Yes you have to survive AND have the opportunity to look at what you really want to do with your life, because what the hell!?! Take charge!!

[Taverner]

68. There were a good deal of boomers who did very well

Ben and Jerry, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, etc...

Granted you have a large group of people, and there will be more successful people just like there will be more unsuccessful people.

But I do think the boomers and X'ers had an advantage that other generations will not have. The prosperity we got used to after WWII will never again in our lifetimes appear.

Now I disagree that boomers and X'ers totally wasted their opportunity - but that's not really what Sierra (the author) is saying. It's more like what you said - they grew up in the age of bullshit and they know it.

[CleanLucre]

72. right

and a lot of Boomers went along with the bullshit.


as for life's work, those extreme success stories are never the majority for those who pursue their creative vision. No one expected to "become millionaires" as the previous poster said. Maybe this generation will create a new economy where more people do succeed at what they love or at least are COMFORTABLE. Middle class life wasn't about CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION til the 80's.

[Taverner]

83. Yep - which is why I am interested in the collective will

The individual will brings us Capitalism, in all of it's fails

[CleanLucre]

84. epic

[Odin2005]

92. We Millennials are a collectivistic generation, like the Greatest Generation.

I have heard bosses saying that we are like the Borg.

[Mponti]

28. Hopes for the millennials

i am a fit 64 year old cyclist who lives on chicago's northside. Last week, i hit a rough patch at an intersection that was being resurfaced and was thrown from my bike. A 8-9 year old black girl walking home from school holding her mother's hand saw my accident and ran up the sidewalk to ask if i was okay as her mother yelled.for her to come back.

Later that day, i stopped in at the neighborhood food mart, owned by a lebanese family. One of the clerks, is a 19-year-old Moroccan college student. Since my last visit, he had gone from shoulder length black hair to a buzz. I joked about the drastic change, asking what happened? He said he had only grown his hair long so.he could donate to a group that supports kids with cancer.

I have great hopes for millennials, but it's time to take it to the booth

[Taverner]

69. The millennials gave us occupy. That alone gets puts them in a high place.

[lunatica]

29. As a Boomer I'd like to reiterate my support for every generation

I don't give a shit what some ignorant brutish high school teacher ranted about while writhing in self-pity. Fuck him.

Millennial will take this fucked up world and change it. You, or they, started OWS and if you want to see how I feel about OWS just look at my avatar.

[Uben]

31. Totally unimpressive.....

..we all live in the world the generation before us created when we graduate from school. The crux of the speech should have been about how to make it better, not bitch about the way it is. Anyone could have written a blase speech such as that.

[daaron]

33. Wow. This thread really proves the author's point.

Presumably many of the virulent reactions above came from Boomers?

Something lost in all the puffed-up mutual outrage is that Baby Boomers have a demographic advantage over other generations (hence, the name) in America. In any poll that doesn't factor by ages will be skewed toward Boomer opinion. In a democratic society such as ours, Boomers have a numbers advantage that has nothing to do with the specialness of the generation, and everything to do with the previous generation having lots of unprotected sex in a time of relative prosperity. If 20 people apply for the same job, then holding all other factors constant more of them will be Boomers than not.

Hey, I'm Gen X. I get the impulse to blame Boomers for hogging the spotlight. I've joked that it wasn't cool to be 30 until the Boomers were 30-something. Then 40-something became the new 30-something. Then 50 was the new 40. Then Boomers hit 60 and 40-something became "middle young", whatever that means. Boomers became the measuring point, by force of sheer numbers. Everything Boomers do receives attention - even the Tea Party - simply because more people are doing it when Boomers are doing it, too.

From the POV of other generations, who maybe are more pissed than me, it might seem like liberal Boomers are enabling this to happen by not taking this demographic fact seriously enough. Social Security is about to take a monster hit. Never mind that Health Care reform didn't become a pressing concern until the Boomers got older. Getting defensive and patronizing doesn't help the Boomer's case. There's more Boomers than any other generation, and so they have an outsized effect in a democratic society and consumer economy. What they want, they can usually get, and their priorities tend to come first because there are more of them.

It's essential to keep Boomers on the progressive side, because there's more of them. That means political parties have had to appeal to Boomers, and shape their messaging for Boomers. When parties campaign to "younger" voters, it means anyone younger than a Boomer. That's how it seems to the younger generations of adults. (Implicitly, you understand by "younger" I mean THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^6^^.)

Pick your battles Boomers. We might be serving you latte's today, but tomorrow you'll need us for more than that.

[CleanLucre]

42. "virulent"?

there's a lot of thoughtful, truthful comments here from all POVs. Including a few who have already set their permanent smirks and can't think beyond their 'tudes. "Getting defensive and patronizing doesn't help the" GenX or millennials case, either

What's mostly missing is talk about the political state that has us all screwn. "We" need you for that.

You don't serve my latte's cuz you make em like crap for too much $$ but that's another tale

[daaron]

44. Yeah, pretty much, "virulent".

As in,

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virulence

[CleanLucre]

45. yeah that's true

Boomers tend to know the meanings of vocabulary without aids.

Drop the 'tude, read the truth that's here, learn something, keep it constructive.

[daaron]

48. Wow. Yeah, there's no patronizing in this this thread.

IOW:

sudo !!

[CleanLucre]

50. There may be some

Can you handle it? Read past it. Grow up? Potential for actual talk here is ruined by YOUR posts

[daaron]

60. Wow. Double down, there Boomer Baby.

Moving on from patronizing to plain condescending.

My post was extremely reasonable, if you bother to read it. I took a look at the issue from both POVs, but emphasized that in my opinion much of the ballyhoo about the Boomers was due to demographic factors and heuristic effects, not anything inherent in Boomers. Not anything that Boomers did. I was the ONE on the thread not acting like a defensive teen, aside from the the other non-Boomers on the thread.

The problem is that Boomers clearly can't handle ANY criticism at all. I made my effort at being reasonable. I made my comment and my contribution. Your POV is that I should get over it and join you in working on problems?

I think not. I think you Boomers need to get over being the Golden generation before you're in your golden years. Nobody wants to change the diapers of a bossy, conceited old crank.

You join US, or don't. We going to the future. Get over it or don't.

[CleanLucre]

89. you don't know

where I am in this. My POV was that the thread was pretty peaceful; that your snottiness seemed to miss that. And you're invested in that attitude. How does that help? It doesn't.

[daaron]

95. All I know is you have offered nothing except insults.

Which means you got nothing. I'm done with your condescension.

sudo !!

[CleanLucre]

96. then read my posts

duh

[daaron]

98. sudo !! nt

[CleanLucre]

99. VIRULENT!!!!11

[whathehell]

87. heh heh.

[LanternWaste]

67. And the responses to the "virulent" posts being mainly petulant proves....?

And the responses to the "virulent" posts being mainly petulant proves....?


However, as booth virulence and petulance are both subjective and open to interpretation (more so, if that's what we're indeed hoping to find due to our own personal biases), I'll simply go with the earlier observation that there has been quite a lot of thoughtful discussion in this thread... biased accusation aside, that is.

[CleanLucre]

90. +1

[SoCalDem]

49. Reagan DOUBLED our SS withholding so that we were PRE-PAYING

for ourselves..and bolstering the shortfall for our elders.

The people in charge of congress (and the dems who put SS into the "general fund", and promptly started blowing it like a drunk at Happy Hour) were NOT Boomers. They werer the ones who HAD pensions, and who got a reprieve from all the money we Boomers tossed into the pot...for DECADES..

We were NO surprise, and we paid EXTRA for all of our working lives (most of us without pensions, and many who arrived at the downsizing era at just the very time when we should have been at peak earning years). We saw our 401-k's pillaged, our homes (for most the only thing of any value) made worthless, and had our kids & grandkids return to suckling from the family teat all while many Boomers are still tending to VERY aged parents who outlived their means..

For many Boomers, life is a shit sandwich, and we are the shit.

There are many Boomers who will sort of welcome the exit.. It may be the only rest we'll be getting anytime soon.

[CleanLucre]

51. lots of people don't know this!!

[Ganja Ninja]

35. I felt the same way 41 years ago when I was getting out of High School.

Back then we faced paying for the cold war and Vietnam. Our cheap and plentiful domestic oil resources were coming to an end, squandered on gas guzzling V8's from Detroit. We felt we had been screwed by the WWII generation and we were going to be different. Funny how things work out.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

41. I move to table this divisive stuff until after the election.

[Phhhtttt]

43. KICK NT

[RobertEarl]

46. Don't trust anyone over 30

My boomers grew up saying we were gonna change the world. We did.

For the worse: Pollution, Resource consumption and Nukes. These are not good changes.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that all this stuff we will leave behind us may be made useful. Heck, it's useful now. Bridges, roads, etc. They will be great bicycle and walking paths for the refugees of climate change and nuke pollution.

And that's about it. Enjoy!

[BOG PERSON]

76. boomers aren't the generation that gave the world nuclear weapons

they're the generation that defeated communism and declared advertising and pornography the winners.

[Blue_Tires]

52. I must be an anomaly

Because I've never, ever fully understood the "this generation versus that generation" rants and open letters that come up from time to time...Or why generations even need to have official "names"

People are people, plain and simple...

[hughee99]

53. I'm sorry, but no one had it tougher than the Boomers,

or did more for following generations. Just ask one, they'll tell you.

[Taverner]

62. I think the generation that fought Hitler and survived the depression would beg to differ with you

[hughee99]

75. I wouldn't say I agree with them,

but I know a lot of Boomers who have a very high opinion of their own generation and a relatively low opinion of others.

[stubtoe]

55. Well, at least Gen X is beginning to enjoy some intergenerational flack.

Boomers are getting tired of shouldering the burden of being responsible for everything that's wrong with the world. We could use the help!

[turtlerescue1]

56. "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

All are hit with these, most decide to recover and to move beyond the injuries. It remains a personal choice.

Blame is an easy game to play. Ownership is quite another. Ahh but peace of mind, now there's a goal worth reaching for. If the only peace of mind comes from blaming, then its not peace of mind, there are other words that define this action.

The irony in some of these posts is the bitterness. Once a little red haired girl with freckles beat me up for my lunch money, does that mean all little red haired girls are like that?

I spent most of my job life working with the elderly and disabled, a lot of hospice as well.
From some of the posts here, I sure pray they are not the ones I'm forced to depend upon for any quality of life when I lose all my abilities and capabilities. My favorite doc told me as this aging process became an obvious reality, "Aging is not for the cowardly". Good advice, keep it in mind-see there is only one other option.

[datasuspect]

57. boo fuckin hoo

meh.

[Uncle Joe]

58. I had the impression he was speaking to all generations, not just the graduates.

There is no way the parents or grandparents of those graduating teens could've missed the implications of McCullough's speech, in fact I thought he was speaking more to the elder generations, "see what you have wrought?"

No doubt many Baby Boomers and Generation X people without children saw the speech as well either through the Internet or television, a speech; that otherwise would've been lost to the masses.

I thought the speech to be both; some measure of admonition to the elders and a final warning to the graduating class.

I believe no generation is perfect, while people can change themselves and society in general, they're predominately imprinted with the stamp of their times and place.

Thanks for the thread, Taverner.

[YoungDemCA]

74. Older generations vs younger generations? Divide and conquer is working well, I'd say....

...for those who stand to profit from our misery.

The rich and powerful divide the rest of the population any way they can, so they can continue to be rich and powerful. That's a timeless truth for our civilization, if there ever was one.

[bluestateguy]

77. Being special has to be earned

and you won't find many 18 year olds who fall into that category. A very select few, but they are the exception and not the rule.

[turtlerescue1]

78. In the early seventies the first time Greenhouse effect

was used in classes, mine happened to be Astronomy, the professor was working on his degree, gone through a divorce and tended to donate blood a little to often to get by.

For 30 years I used to inject "What global warming?" at odd and unexpected times, usually resulting in a look like of concern for my mental well being. Took a couple of decades before the majority of people had any idea what I was rambling about.

The topic of AIDS, when was it really discussed in the general public? There was no instant awareness from ESP or psychic predictions.

That's what some don't understand, you have to take step one, before you can get to step two.

Something else that seems to have gotten lost is NO ONE sends in a request to be born and have a life, that begins with a look in someone's eyes. Given my dad was 46 when he learned he was about to be a father again, wanna bet he could have found a different kind of joy? Surprise was likely an understated fact. His personal dreams put on hold another 18 years.

Birth control allowed folks to wait, and hopefully be more able to afford to provide a good childhood for their child, and not have a new child every year or so.

As per all the messes, wish more would have been changed. Utopia will always be stuck being a dream over a reality-still wish we could do better.

Until this thread, until reading it as it grew, being childless I stood up to those around me who called this new group the "Instant gratification generation". BUT after seeing the mean heartedness, not so sure I'll jump to defend these folks again. Thought maybe you should know this.

Wish you well, wish you the wherewithal to stand up and find like-minds to work for CONstructive change.

BUT methinks from now on, am stuck saying to parents, "yeah, I saw what you meant, and apologize for speaking as an advocate."

[frazzled]

82. To be fair, let's remember that this speech was given in Wellesley, Mass.

where according to a 2007 estimate, "the median income for a household was $125,814, and the median income for a family was $155,539." And where in Boston Magazine's yearly "Best Places To Live", Wellesley "ranks first in the United States in percentage of adults who hold at least one college degree." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley,_Massachusetts. This speech was not given in Detroit or on the South Side of Chicago, or even in Cleveland or Omaha. The students of Wellesley High, though certainly faced with a different future than their parents (and what generation is not so challenged?), are not exactly the millenials I'm most worried about.

No, current economic conditions, long in the making, mean that you won't perhaps be able to buy the house you grew up in. I'm a boomer, and I couldn't either: we had two kids before we were able to afford a 1400 square foot house with a single bathroom to share between four people. And we took on the debt of our millennial kids' college educations, which I don't regret for a second, but we will be paying it off the rest of our lives.

Every generation has its ups and downs. I can't imagine having being part of my father's generation: he grew up during the Depression and, after being drafted, had to fly 60 missions dropping bombs in the South Pacific during World War II, which haunts him to this day. And then even though he got an advanced degree in chemistry and pharmacy, he ended up having to tear apart junked cars all his life, because in those days, the big pharmaceutical companies did not hire Jews. And you know what he told me when I visited him for father's day? He said: I'm so lucky that that I just missed "the Notch" for Social Security. You see, he's nearly 96: he was born in 1916, and had he been born a year later his Social Security benefits would have been significantly less. He lived through more than most of us would have endured ... but he got his little lucky break, which allows him to live out his final years with some dignity.

We Boomers are in a curious situation: we are caring for our parents from the so-called "Greatest" generation, and we are worrying about our children of the Millennial generation, both at the same time (and as we face very uncertain retirements ourselves). Cut us some slack. Not all of us created the conditions that form the basis of what you face today. It's never good to paint any group of people with a broad brush. We're all humans, each generation facing its unique issues. We should embrace those who came before us and those who follow after us. It's good karma.

[tritsofme]

85. Pretty whiny screed if you ask me.