lesson learned

  For every generation there is a death. We are born into one generation and watch as the previous ones die. Most of us are completely unaware of any of that until we reach that age ourselves. When we begin to see our generation dying. In recent years we have begun talking about that, labeling each generation. My parents weren't aware they were the "greatest generation" and I certainly hadn't heard that I was a "baby boomer" until all that became mainstream. Now we have generation X, millennials, generation Z and generation alpha. It is estimated that about 66,000 members of the greatest generation are still alive, less than 1% of the population. I do believe the name is appropriate, they were the greatest generation. Some sources list them as "the builders" those born before 1946. 

 The discomfort I feel today is the realization that my generation is nearing its' end. Oh we've got a while yet, but none of us will see 2100. I didn't think about when I was younger, that I would see the turn of the century, and I met that with a bit of surprise. Today I see that we are a quarter of the way to another. I also never thought about the fact that my grandparents were born in a different century than I. I'm that generation now to my grandchildren and great granddaughter. Born in a different century! And we talk about history, the passage of time. George Washington, back in ancient times. He passed away 226 years ago. All at once that doesn't seem quite so long. 

  All the generations that came before my own have achievements to boast about. They gained independence and created the republic I live in today. They did build America, it's cities and towns, highways and bridges. They fought two world wars. Airplanes, automobiles, and rocket ships. I look back at my generation and wonder what contribution we have made. Computers and technology? Yes, we have done that. But I also feel like my generation will be known as the "complainers" more so than any boom. We are called that simply because of the economic boom following WW2. 

 Call it social justice, call it whatever you like, but the fact is we're complainers. And sadly we have raised a generation that struggles with the obvious. Consider our legislators that seriously consider you can just "select" your gender based on what you feel. Consider legislators seriously saying a pregnant woman is just carrying a clump of cells, a zygote, not a real person. We have passed laws for "gender affirming care" whose objective is to perpetuate a delusion. Yes, my generation is responsible for that.   The sad part being we have come to realize that; but it is just too late. Now we are simply those "old" people. Old fashioned, out of touch and grumpy. We aren't educated enough, empathetic enough or young enough to accomplish anything anymore. Some of us will be cared for, treasured like a favorite pet, and others simply forgotten about, dismissed as a burden. Just background noise. Yes, that what it is is when you get old. But I'm not complaining, there is no one to blame but myself. A lesson learned. I won't be around, but one day this generation will also learn that lesson. Might not happen until the next century, but it will.