Trying to Make Sense of a Post Baby Boom World

Forget creating the atom bomb. Forget the Y2K hype. And forget, if possible, line dancing. The worst epidemic that has struck America has been the Baby Boom. Baby Boomers have taken possession of this country like parasitic zebra mussels choking the life out of the Great Lakes. For as much good as the Builder Generation (ie WW2) did for this country, for all of their courage and perseverance, for their moxie and faith, man oh man, did they run it off into the ditch when it came time to raise children. No generation has ever been in more dire need of birth control options and family planning than my grandparents' generation. I think the old adage 'were you raised by wolves?' is the go-to insult regarding child rearing but quite frankly, wolves (with their real woods smarts) probably would have raised more intelligent individuals. I'm critical of my grandparents' generation despite my adoration of my grandparents. It's unfortunate, and almost a crime, that their good qualities skipped a generation and weren't imparted on their offspring. As a product of a Baby Boomer household, I can say with conviction that there is no other generation who is more self centered, selfish and prone to adult temper tantrums than the Baby Boomers. And they need both of their arms to simultaneously point at the two groups of people who, in their eyes, are responsible for all of their foibles and failures of characters. Those two groups are their parents and their children. They blame their parents for their terrible childhoods (although there was no better time to be a kid than post WW2 with the evolution of suburbia and nuclear families full of grateful and globally mindful adults) and their kids for tying them down and becoming a generation of indecisiveness. My generation (sitting on the edges of Generation X & Y) has had to look to our grandparents for role models because we have become dissatisfied and (to use a classic Baby Boomer phrase) disillusioned with the example of our own parents. Baby Boomers live in a suspended animation kind of world where if they cannot bring a topic back to their own 60s & 70s "awakenings", they discredit and dismiss it. They refuse to evolve, they refuse to mature. If they cannot relive their Vietnam peace marches and Watergate hearings, Woodstock and John Lennon's death over and over again, if they cannot connect those, and other obscenely pointless parts of their memories, to present day topics and issues, their lives lose all meaning. They cannot let go of their hippie flashbacks hearkening back to the simple times of yesteryear. The times were simpler only due to the large portions that were blissfully blotted out thanks to the effects of drugs.
Why am I so harsh on Baby Boomers? Because I do not appreciate the way that BB politicians spin their responsibility for the social repercussions of their generation's ignorance. They scratch their heads and appear befuddled at why drugs are so rampant, why suburban kids are so vulnerable to them and why many view drug abuse with a relaxed attitude. Perhaps because they are aware of your own stash growing in the basement? BBs become as helpless as marionette puppets when it comes to explaining school violence--they cannot decipher the obvious recipes for disasters such as VT and Columbine. Could it be that your own children have no moral compass thanks to you laissez faire, if it feels good do it, parenting? Could it be that they have become hopeless in the face of absent family relationships and have to turned to materialism to bridge the gap?
BBs have spent most of their lives thinking of themselves as the original anti-establishment (hello to all you history students out there: they were called flappers) generation. They thought they discovered enlightenment, that they were the Chosen Ones. And ever since then, they have preached from the good book of Meaning. Trouble is, meaning has evaded them like the cable guy. They've been waiting around expectantly but meaning eludes them.
I believe that if only the WW2 generation had ladled out some tough love on their children, my generation might be better for it. That was one type of post WW2 fallout that wasn't planned for. An unfaltering desire for a better world for their children. The WW2 spoiled BBs and oddly enough, the BBs imparted on my generation the most anti anti-establishment characteristic of all: social economic hypocrisy and snobbery. They taught us that capitalism is the root of all evil unless your last name is Buffett. That exploitation of the poor for personal (monetary) gain is a crime against humanity unless you're Madonna or Angelina Jolie. That disturbing nature (goodbye Alaska pipeline, domestic oil and jobs) is inhumane unless you're Harrison Ford building a mansion smack in the middle of pristine Idaho. That smoking is abhorrent and should be wiped off the face of the earth except in Hollywood movies. That blue collar working class Joes & Janes are too ignorant and too base to reason, it's better to do their thinking for them which is why John Kerry stooped down to their level by throwing on a Carhartt for that all important NASCAR dad vote. BBs are the ultimate chameleons because they pledge no allegiance to anything other than themselves. To do otherwise would mean they would have to subscribe to a yes or no, black or white line of reasoning. Without a gray area to obscure their actions in, they'd have to take accountability for their deeds and misdeeds. They would have to omit words like misled, not to my knowledge and unaware from their vocabulary.

You've Come A Long Way Baby?

I was being trained as a peer mediator the day that changed a town called Littleton and a school which has tragically taken on a tragic persona, a school that has become a noun, a verb, an adjective all at the same time. Columbine. In retrospect, being trained to mediate disputes between students on the day that defined school violence seems like a feeble attempt to fight an unknown, undefined enemy. We were way out of our league. High school dynamics had degenerated far beyond the power of speech, the power of words. We were grossly ill equipped to deal with this. The day after, my sister and I began discussing quick exits out of our high school, if it ever became necessary. We spoke of places we would hide if we couldn't get out. How we would find each other---this was before text messaging and cell phones became common place gear for high school. It is morbid to think that we were discussing how to escape the possibility of being mowed down by a potential classmate. I will always remember the brother of one of the Columbine students who were killed, I think her name was Rachel, and his TV interviews about his experience afterward. It became my greatest fear and I promised myself that neither me or my sister would have to reprise his role.
The following year, I was in a senior writing workshop where my English teacher began to create excuses for the two individuals (addressing them by name will only give them notoriety that they do not deserve) who spewed so much evil and hate that day in 1999. He began to lament about the horrors of being bullied. Anger mixed with disbelief bubbled up inside of me and I began to argue with him. I told him what I thought was obvious to anyone. I had been bullied on a nearly constant basis through school, as were most of my fellow students, but I grew up well adjusted, mature and far from vengeful. Being bullied is never a reason to exact violence on the innocent and those around me.
I feel this needs repeating in light of Virginia Tech. Because it seems like no matter how unexplainable the violence, no matter how random, no matter how evil, the justifiers---those people who defend the actions of those soulless individuals, spring up immediately. It happened after 9/11---people sprang up saying that America was to blame for the bloodshed and that the victims, by simple being Americans, asked for it. The media is perpetually looking for the formulas for violence---in essence, they are looking for the formulas to evil. That there must be a scientific procession of events or variables that cause such an outcome as evil. They believe that by identifying such a formula, they can erase the possibility---like genetically engineering corn, and taking out the evil gene. Evil in the world will exist no matter what. Without rhyme or reason, evil will continue to outlive empires and administrations. People often ask why is there evil in the world when they should be asking why not. With all of the criminal actions in the world, the violent behaviors and beliefs, with all of the anger and disillusionment, why shouldn't there be evil in the world?
Especially on college campuses, which foster and praise violent means to an end. The moody, melancholy, anti social, violent behaviors of the VT gunman are the same anti establishment, fight the machine attitudes and characteristics that professors nurture in students. Against the grain rage is encouraged on college campuses. Violent protests, rallies and picketing are the very tools they employ. Rage at a democratic, capitalistic society is what professors see as independent thinking. Subscribing to any kind of belief system that clearly defines morality and evil is viewed as ignorant, archaic and based in folklore and superstition. The Abercrombie & Fitch frat guy or sorority girl with their devotion to consumerism and shallow politics may be a university's most non violent students.

An Open Letter to William C. Ford (and for good measure, Alan Mulally)

Dear Mr. Ford (and to a lesser extent, Mr. Mulally),

You have cost my generation quite a bit. You have cost my neighbors a lot as well. My friends, my family, my town, my state, my country have paid dearly. And it makes me angry Mr. Ford, it makes me angry because it was completely avoidable. It was unnecessary. It could have been prevented. Sure, you're not the only car company down in the hole digging away fruitlessly but as long as not all of the companies are down there with you (oh let's say Toyota for one), you can't put the blame on the outside world. There were countless exit ramps, you were just too greedy. Flush from the SUV boom of the 90s. The trucks and SUVs were your cash cows. And the hometown crowd bought into it. My neighbors drove heavy duty trucks to their office jobs, teens drove full sized SUVs to school. I remember the gas per gallon price in 1999 too Mr. Ford. 99 cents a gallon. Times were good. Hybrids were purely hobby then. Every kid of every Ford employee at my school had a shiny new Cougar in the school parking lot, never mind that your company was just looking to quickly unload a supply of flashy coffee cans. The common man was still going gaga over Mustangs. Every hometown kid in high school and college was looking to a Ford horizon. We all wanted to work there, even me.
Working at a place like Ford use to mean something to people. It was like a social hierarchy, the golden ticket to a successful career. It use to mean something special to my family. I've had uncles, cousins and countless other relatives root their careers firmly in Ford. My great grandfather worked there, devoted most of his life to it, with someone who may be vaguely familiar to you--Henry Ford? Maybe I shouldn't blame you so much Mr. Ford---after all, decisions are made by many different people on many different levels and power is portioned out. But you have a vested interest that sets you apart from all the other decision makers because at the end of the day, you still end your signature with Ford.
The world is not what it once was. Gasoline, politics, OPEC--they're ego chess games. They are games of chicken, of Stratego power plays. But SUVs stopped being the golden calf a long time ago. People didn't want to pay for heavy duty trucks when all they hauled around suburbia were themselves. You had time to slow down, turn the ship, at the very least see the writing on the wall. But Ford was filled with middle aged Baby Boomer men who refused to give into the times, even though they were a-changing. They had a good formula going--they were so sure they could convince the American people, the hometown crowd, that they still needed SUVs. That, to complete their lives, suburbanites needed full sized trucks. Of course, the people who actually needed them to drag their boats to the lake had already seen the writing and were trying to unload not only their gas guzzling vehicles but their boats as well.
Factories manned by unionized linemen, who made more money with overtime and benefits than most college grads, kept churning out vehicles who were putting down roots in dealership lots. If you really need to point the finger at someone other than yourself, Mr. Ford, pointing to the unions would be understating their role by leaps and bounds. Unions are the noose that Ford has hanged itself with. For years, you let the unions call the shots, pilfering what they could. Union members have a well earned reputation of being untouchable, Mr. Ford, and they know it. With health care costs soaring, how did you expect to square benefit costs with a growing crop of unsold vehicles? How did you expect to kick start a new chapter where Ford is synonymous with quality when union workers get paid either way, regardless of whether the work gets done right or at all? With that disastrous recipe Mr. Ford, I wasn't surprised in the least when the layoffs began. Nor was I surprised when you announced your expansion south of the border. After all the unions had to know it too. They were the proverbial straw. They caused their own layoffs. Former employees should demand their union dues back. I've seen the union hierarchy on the news, swaggering around like they were knee deep in gold bargaining chips. You let it come to this Mr. Ford, the American auto industry becoming an utter joke. People like myself, who were raised die hard domestic consumers, are tired of the incessant recalls, the shoddy parts, and non existent durability. Someone should clue in your marketing and design teams, who seem to be trapped in a 90s time warp, cars are no longer extensions of our personalities. We are not going to pay through the nose for flash and flash alone. Especially the hometown crowd. People who are chronically out of work, Mr. Ford, are more worried about paying their heating bills than plastic flash.
As a side note to Mr. Mulally, how do you square away, how do you reconcile in your mind, the fact that your company had a thirteen percent decline for the month of February and yet, those results somehow warrant bonuses for all employees and might I add, hefty ones at that for senior management. Million dollar stock options and large cash bonuses that use to be someone's paycheck, someone's salary. Someone's money for groceries. Nauseating, Mr. Mulally, disgusting and at the very least, tacky.
I'm sure none of this is news but it needs to be reiterated, as many times as necessary, until you get it. In a post Enron world, accountability, honesty and sacrifice are held in the highest esteem with the American consumer. Gone are the days when CEOs were viewed as benevolent Father Knows Best figures. Ford's reputation and its products have vandalized the history of the classic American company. A history filled with ironic wistful slogans of yesteryear. Built Ford tough. Ford has a better idea. Think Ford first.