maturity denied

 Each generation leaves their mark in history. Each generation trying to match the accomplishments of their forbearers. Indeed the objective is to be " better " than the previous generation. Isn't that why society, in general, goes through changes? These changes are cyclic in nature, best expressed with an old adage, what goes around, comes around. We are taught about these changes as ages. Ages are the very broad definition of society. You know the iron age, the industrial age, that sort of thing. Then there are era's. The Victorians are a good example of that. And of course, we started labeling generations. I'm a baby boomer! That's what they call my generation, the one following WW2. Then there is x,y, z, millennials and whatever. I can't keep all that straight. But I'm aware of being a baby boomer. We weren't the first hippies, just the first to use that name. The flappers in the roaring twenties with their twenty three skee doo and all that jazz where the hippies of there time. You had the greasers in the fifties, an alternative social group. I guess that is how you would describe that, I'm no sociologist. But you get what I mean.

 Now we boomers can take credit for the invention of the personal computer. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are boomers. However I would have to say we boomers are responsible for a great deal of social change. Some of this change rightfully belongs to the previous generation but we take credit for it, think civil rights. The legacy of the baby boomer generation is definitely a mixed bag of good to the questionable. Boomers are know for the Vietnam War, not for causing it, but fighting in it. An unpopular war for sure and only now are its' veterans ( boomers ) getting respect for that service. It must be remembered many burned their draft cards, fled to Canada, staged sit-ins and generally protested that war. Sometimes called the " me " generation for their self absorbed attitudes,  boomers abandoned many of the old traditions regarding morality and ethics. 

 I got to thinking about all of this after an online discussion. I don't know who the other  person was, just an anonymous voice on the internet. I'm not one to stalk your profile page in an attempt to find information I can use to insult you, or attack you on. Fact is, I have serious doubts about just how honest and accurate any such profile would be, especially so with those attacking strangers. I'd perfer you didn't know too much! I've known some that create a fake account to gain access! An subterfuge, a back door attack. But this person, when his or her supply of insults and information ran out, suggested that as a boomer I should be close to death. Apparently feeling a boomer is no longer relevant in society today, just a drag on resources. Indeed it was suggested the world would be a better place were I to leave it. I did explain to that person that I highly doubt my passing would alter world events and assured that individual that there day would come as well, all in good time. Still, that remark stuck in my head. 

 I was taught to respect my elders. That instruction can be found in every culture, in every society that ever existed. True some are more reverent about that than others, but never have I heard of a society where you wish for the death of your elders. I was thinking about that. In society today, right now, we allow abortion as a right, a choice. Regardless of any debate the purpose of that " procedure " is to prevent or eliminate life, depending on your rationale. We have laws about assisted suicide. Sometimes called death with dignity in an attempt to make that choice palatable. And it isn't just for the terminally ill anymore, no, age alone may be the reason. There is even some that reason this is a kindness to their elders. A change in social attitude? I see those choices as a great deal more than that. I see those choices as social degradation. A spiraling downward that is gaining in momentum. 

  Certainly I could dismiss what that individual said as nothing more than a flippant remark designed to insult and I would be correct. As I said I don't know who that person is, perhaps just an immature child. I really don't place a great deal of value on what strangers say to me in these discussions. Still that remark served its' purpose I suppose as I have given it some thought. My first thought being, how rude! My response was not anger, but dismissal. It did cause me to think more about it. What anger must that person harbor? Is it contempt? Perhaps it is nothing more than indifference. Indifference to a life. That statemen was followed by being called a boomer. Okay Boomer being the latest insult to those willing to accept that as an insult. I just accept it as a fact of life. Yup, I'm a boomer. And then I began to think about just what legacy are us Boomers going to leave? Is it too late to change that legacy? What will history say about us? My parents generation, the silent generation as the sociologists call them, left a legacy. What is that legacy? They are called the " greatest generation. " Growing up in the great depression they were defined by the sacrifices they made. They did without. They were taught respect for their elders, and service to the community and indeed to the nation as their greatest duty. There greatest fault was in the way they raised their children, the baby boomers. Having done without, they were determined their children would not. In general I'd say they were quite successful at that. Perhaps a little too successful. I'd say we boomers don't have an expectation of entitlement but certainly demand we receive what we are entitled too. We have, after all, worked for it. So what legacy shall we leave? Will it be one of social change? Yes, of course it will be. I'm just concerned about the changes we are making. Once the downward begins it is difficult to reverse that. Are we going to be the generation that says, ah, go ahead and end life when it is convenient or inconvenient for life to begin and end? Or will we be the generation to reverse that decision? It was the silent generation, the generation of our parents that passed that legislation essentially for us baby boomers. I'd suggest it was legislation passed in an error of judgement, another entitlement that silent generation wanted to give to their children, The social pressure to do such is a topic I'm certain could fill a book. It is a downward spiral begun by them, embraced by a portion of the baby boomer generation, and has reached a point where it is described as a right! The right to prevent or take life. Is that truly a legacy to take pride in? Not for me it isn't, not for me. As I was told in that conversation,  just die boomer, isn't it time you died? And that was in response to a discussion about the President, a temporary thing. Life and the ending of it is rather a permanent thing, wouldn't you say? Are we boomers to be a bust? That's a question I find asking myself. All I can do is continue to write my thoughts and hold discussions with others. It really is as Socrates said. " I can not teach anybody, anything. I can only make them think. " The frustration comes when I get the feeling that others aren't really thinking about anything but what they want. Maturity denied? Perhaps that is what happened when the silent generation raised us boomers, perhaps that was the result. Perhaps we boomers perpetuated that, and that's why society is in the condition it is today. The utopia we boomers once envisioned, peace and love, aided by " mind expanding drugs " never came to fruition. I don't expect it ever will. But we keep trying to eliminate the obstacles with " medications " and indeed the elimination of life itself when that life proves an inconvenience. 

 The time grows short for us boomers A new generation will soon litigate our lives. I say litigate because the living of life has been constantly constricted by litigation. Law and order is indeed a double edged sword. Yes today the law protects us from being "euphuized " requiring our consent but future litigation can change that. End of life decisions based on economic considerations? It's already happened in Great Britain, no reason it couldn't happen here. I don't see any reason however why we can't just all grow up! Maybe, just maybe we should have listened more closely to the silent generation when they tried to tell us about sacrifice and making do. Yes, they loved us, loved us to a fault it would seem.