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.
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