I came across a rather interesting but disturbing blog post this evening from a person who identified him (her) self as edbreley. This is what they wrote:
I am 17 and I hate the Baby Boomer generation with a burning passion. My father is a member of the Baby Boomer generation, and when he complains about my generation, I ask him who has nearly bankrupted America, destroyed our reputation around the world, and destroyed the great morals we once had. The Baby Boomers are the idiots who started experimenting with drugs in the 60's and the ones who have nearly made our economy totally collapse.
I work at a grocery store, and Baby Boomers are some of the most rude people I come across. Its like they know their generation sucks and that they have successfully ****** up America, but they want to take their bitterness out on my generation, which is smarter than theirs and will do more things. They act like I owe them something, and I don't. They owe me an apology, if anything, for ******* up my country and then blaming my generation for everything that goes wrong and telling us how bad we are.
I wonder if this is how we are viewed by the majority of the younger generations. I am a baby boomer but I have often said baby boomers are responsible for a lot of the mess we've gotten ourselves economically and even socially. We have been a generation of contradictions. We grew up on drugs, sex and rock and roll. Some of us were staunch civil rights activists. Then some of us us became greedy, controlling, bigots and sexists who didn't give a damn about really trying to help others.
But I can honestly say, for me personally, I have connected with a group of boomers who are on the move and making a difference and we're doing it because we genuinely care about how we leave this world before we depart.
So what will be the baby boomer legacy?
20 comments:
Gosh, I hope we are remembered for being a generation that stood up for our beliefs, became more accepting of others, and learned that helping our neighbor was still admirable.
I have read similar posts. The writer has made some very valid points. In addition to what she said, we raised the most spoiled generation, because we overindulged them and for the most part didn't make them take responsibility for their sins or mistakes. This is why it is ultra important that we try to make positive changes, so we can redeem ourselves and leave this world knowing that we picked up most of our mess.
Bev, I do wonder about this and discuss it with my grown children. Unfortunately, I believe a lot of them do blame us...and some of it rightfully so. Our generation made some mistakes, we also did some good things. All I can hope is as we age we use the lessons we learned to make the world a better place. I think we will, it's my goal and I know it's yours and many other Boomere we connect with.
That is sad! I had no idea that some young people thought that way. I do however believe we were the most blessed generation in many ways and had time to do all the things we did. Earlier generations were busy trying to put food on the table by growing or hunting it instead of going to the mall. Yes, we made some mistakes, but our kids are learning from our mistakes so they can make their own.
Bev, a teenager blaming his parents for his perception of a crappy life? No surprise there. We didn't invent rebellion, and the idyllic life they'd like to think came before was captured on celluloid and no more real than Heroes or Lost. My Mom, born in 1937, was a rebel by nature and this apple didn't fall far from the tree. She horrified her parents with scandalous bathing suits and rock 'n roll. It was a different time then, but teenagers were just as obnoxious as they are today, within societal context.
I hope to see a rise in education and with it a resurgence of hope and a reduction of violence and, frankly, rudeness. I've often said that manners are still a marketable commodity, as is the ability to communicate in whole sentences. Nice is not dead. Neither is this economy. It's just a financial hiccup on a long road of ups and downs. So tell your young blogger to study history and quit watching Fox political opinion shows pretending to be news.
You can also tell him that laying blame doesn't change anything. Action does. Conservatives seem to have forgotten that.
http://twitter.com/sherisaid
Bev, this young man sounds like many politicians when they take office. So often energy is wasted discussing where things went wrong rather than working together to fix it.
But, thank goodness, sites like yours provide a place for him to express himself with honesty so that perhaps we can agressively begin continued conversations with other generations.
Let's face we MUST work together to get this thing right!
There are good and bad in all generations and parents have a lot to answer for. This poor young man obviously has some issues with his father and as a result the rest of us get lumped into the same basket.
I don't believe my own children feel this way about our generation - I would hope they don't.
Yes, our generation has done some bad things but there's been a heck of a lot of good out there too and if it weren't for our generation we wouldn't be chatting to each other like this on the web, nor would that young man be able to voice his thoughts to such a large audience.
Oh this is so sad!
I'm 25 and I agree completely with the article. The Boomers are responsible for sexual promiscuity being accepted as the norm, drug culture, not standing with your country while at war, and above all, not taking ownership for your actions. You are some of the most self-absorbed people on earth.
As for the "good" you did, you stood up for "what you believed in". Let me translate: "you did what you felt like, when you believed you felt like it". Examples: dodging the draft, spitting on our veterans as they returned, sexual "freedom" (trying to live without consequences), hippies (we call these "college bums" now), and taking credit for the accomplishments from the Greatest Generation (the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin wall - that was Reagans doing not yours).
You're supposed to be hard workers. That's because you're selfish and you like money. You love government bennies but not having to pay taxes that you've caused. So you leave the debt for us young'ins to pay off 50 years from now.
The divorce rate is so high because you have never known what real love (not free love) is, nor do you know sacrifice and the duty one has with their family...and so you spend more time at work escaping your family and your responsibilities. The same people smoking dope and popping pills in the 60s and 70s are the same people the viagra commercials are made for today. The Greatest Generation would have never approved ED commercials on public television. Where is your shame?
Oh yea, thanks for the great music. With the Beatles, Stones, Janis Joplin, etc. it brought drug culture, anti-war crap (you people are as patriotic as an empty beer can), laziness, and sexual experimentation...all of which continue today with Britney Spears and Lady Gaga whose every lyric is about some sexual escapade.
In short, you are the worst thing to ever happen to this country and we will go out of our way to make sure you're remembered as the Evil Generation. If you can actually admit to all the mayhem you've caused that will be a first step to anything.
Thanks for nothing, whatsoever. My disrespect is a result of your actions and its consequences we have to live with still to this day. More people feel as I do than you would believe. Again, thanks for nothing you whiners.
Boomers are completely clueless!!
Yes, you protested the war.. Good for you. it was YOUR parents who voted in Civil Rights of '64 while mostof you were in highschool!! GET OVER IT!!
WOW gained steam in the 70's, BUT the actual governmental work was done in '64. hate to tell you, deal with it.
Boomers:"We are hard working, educated and care about others"
Really? Racism, gender equality and a whole host of other issues became societal issues with the Gen Xer's grew up..
Boomers got drunk, high and then grew up had children, neglected them and they grew up, became HIGHLY educated and now are 'taking' your jobs..
Seriously, this is what you feed yourself daily?!
As someone born in the early years of "Generation Y" I have no memory of being spoiled. My "boomer" parents were hardly there long enough to spoil me.
With that said, yes the "boomer" generation is full of contradictions and many boomers have taken credit fot the actions of other generations while refusing to own up to their own mistakes.
Civil Rights came out of a liberal Congress with roots in the Greatest Generation. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929, not 1950. None of you were old enough to particpate in the space race and yes you did protest against Vietnam and rightly so, but your generation has brought Irag, Afghanistan, and the explosion of the "Military Industrial Complex" that thrives on death and destruction. The truly lasting contributions that have positive meaning for you are the development of the personal computer and information technology of which Generations X and Y have actually put to better use. In the political sphere you look like the Hatfields vs. the McCoys, but now its the Bush vs. the Clintons. This has produced disaterous results for our nation's public policy as well as the state of our current political discourse.
Currently our nation is bankrupt with a Congress full of boomers caught in a tug of war with a President from Generation X. Unfortunately, entitlement programs will be slashed in the long run to shore-up America's fiscal solvency. The "boomer" generation has put this issue off long enough and mortgaged the future of its children and grand-children. The last meaningful social security reform came from President Reagan and Speaker Tip O'Neil over 25 years ago. You want to help, vote for the right candidates and end this intra-generational political warfare you've had since the 60's. Like my generation in the wake of this recession, you will have to humble yourselves to accomplish the great ideals you never truly aspired to. Sacrifice is now the name of the game. I hope that was enough "whole" sentences for you and no I'm no seventeen or twenty-five year-old kid. I'm in my thirties paying taxes without whimpering and doing everything I can to ensure my children don't grow to find that the world is a far-cry from the promises made to us.
How do you spell euthanaisia? Boomers, as the current biggest voting block, should have strong incentive to not be so greedy about healthcare.
I had an old woman for a neighbor. She moved to a semi-retirement village from the home she'd lived in for a long time -- before she needed to live in a retirement village. She did so so she could make the choice, instead of having to rely on her children to make the best decision for her. She was very wise.
Boomers should take a reasonable view of healthcare, not a greedy one. That way they can be part of the decision process. If they are greedy, we younger generations will certainly be fed up paying for all of your excesses, and start pulling the plugs on your ventilators, monitors and dialysis machines.
Think about it.
Yes I am 19 years old and I feel the same way. Needless to say you are a generation of entitlement. The worst generation of entitlement to date. You will cut schooling budgets in order keep spending on your Medicare and Social Security, which my "future" kids and their future kids will have to pay for out of their taxes .Oh, but there won't be any left for them, you only care about yourself.
Oh and the complaining, stop whining about other generations, when you lived the longest and ruined Americas already corrupt system. Plus, with a large slice of hypocrisy, you are false prophets - fakes. Your marching came down with a crash as you turned into the 80s pigs. Who were "All American, Corrupt" and chanted for the death of countries and nukes.
You became the "elite- corporation/industry/government whiners" you were once against but tell us to shut up about it. Sounds a little hypocritical hunh?
Oh, if we want something go vote! Hmmm, clearly voting for the last century hasn't done anything in the last 100 years. You only see red or blue, black or white. Democrat/Republican, nothing in between and you seem to be totally oblivious to the fact that America is ruined and rigged.
You ruined the reputation of the country by being loud and arrogant when visiting other countries. Yelling "Nuke them" at every other sentence. What more can I say, and you feel as if we should say thank you.
When the "hippies" were just a small few chanting for chance born years before your generation. Most of you were posuers at the highschool "drinking in the scene", clearly unable to wrap your head against such issues. AGAIN, YOUR GENERATION DID NOT MARCH FOR EQUAL RIGHTS AND TO END THE WAR. MOST OF YOU WERE BABIES AND STARTING HIGHSCHOOL. YOUR OLDEST BROTHERS AND SISTERS DID.
I'm going to echo the last few posters and agree that, yes, this is how young people view Boomers. I'm 23 and a recent college grad looking for entry-level work, and who am I competing against? People who are 50+ who already had their chance at entry-level employment and are now taking opportunities away from MY generation AND calling us lazy and entitled. Why do you feel entitled to OUR jobs, Boomers?
We grew up hearing (from YOU) that education was the path to success: "You better go to school if you don't want to end up working at McDonald's!" Now you tell us that we spoiled and lazy if we don't want to work at McDonald's after college! YOU told us we were too good for that! It's bad enough that you've screwed us royally, but then to turn around and insult us like you do? Ridiculous. My cohort and I are waiting with bated breath for you all to drop dead. Screw you, Boomers.
What about "America's Greatest Generation"??? They are the parents of the Boomers. So many of us Boomers got to scrimp & charge for little extras for the parent in a home or the parent who does not want to go into a home. Yes, the grand-kids hate us!
Boomer's are a narcissistic lot... The "me" generation is what my grandmother called them.
Self absorbed to the point of being evil... covering the world, and their own faces with layers of plastic.
Oprah(tm) is the quintessential boomer: materialistic, spoiled, the ultimate consumer who only gives very publicly... and expects adoration in return... PLUS she is on the cover of her own magazine every month.
I am a 40 year old waiter who has never made more than $2.13 per hour... and the worst tippers... you guessed it, rich boomers.
They complain endlessly, they want you to tell them all about the "specials" and fawn over them... they expect you to take their abuse, and they don't even pay you for your time.
The boomers are a vile lot, and the planet will be much better when they shuffle off.
I have re-visited this blog post due to a recent comment and just came upon your response. I know a number of young people feel the way you do. You're right. We did tel our children education is the way to go if you don't want to work in a minimum wage job for the rest of your life. That's what we had been taught. I do believe in a quality education but I also believe our educational system needs a major OVERHAUL. But that's another blog post all together. Thanks so much for chiming in. Even though I'm a baby boomer, I certainly don't agree with all "we" as a generation have done.
L Werner,
Thank you for your comments.I can understand your frustration but please don't lump all of us in the same oatmeal. I do tip generously and appreciate good service.
I'm not a boomer but the generation after them and have spent my entire life
waiting for them to retire (they aren't) or something.
If only houses could be made cheaper, inflation-deflation reversed, and
the boomers made to see that when they insist on working past their expiry
date, they are robbing income from younger people. Seems there could be a better way of making things easier and fairer for those of us behind boomers, who did not win the birth-date-lottery of cheap housing, education, and the bouyant economy of the 1950's through to 1970's. I hope you find a job soon BeverlyM. You deserve to have a chance.
I helped my loser boomer neighbors who collect loads of Social security welfare with their computer. Never once did they compensate me for my time in any way, including helping me when I was looking for employment. The day you boomers die a painful death is a day the rainbows will shine through the rain.
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