Hi Jared:
As a boomer, I find all this generational ranting quite disturbing. It’s rampant on Medium and it’s usually just a blame game. Kudos to you to at least suggest some solutions. Every generation has its opportunities and challenges.
While you listed some of the problems the boomers caused here are some of things we did right:
-Created and volunteered in the millions for the Peace Corps·
-Funded NASA and put a man on the moon with all the attendant tech developments·
-Were drafted, fought and 50,000 of us died in wars we didn’t understand or want in SE Asia (we also fought in all subsequent actions from Desert shield to Afghanistan)·
-Created the internet (with DARPA)·
-Created the PC and integrated circuits·
-Created laws to protect the rights of African-Americans and women·
-Created the software business·
-Established title IX to protect the rights of disabled and others
My parent’s generation freed the world from fascism by making the ultimate sacrifices during the World War. They relaxed into corporate or state jobs with virtually no chance of losing their job with benefits that would last their entire lives.
Sometime in the 1980’s the fabric of this bond between corporations and their workers was severed. Corporations were now more tied to their shareholders than their stakeholder employees.
The boomer generation generally was not afforded the company pension and healthcare coverage for life. Did we gripe about it? Sure. Did we feel the previous generation was dictating everything in our lives and how it would be? Sure. Did we rebel? You bet.
I think it is the natural order of things to see your opportunities in a lesser light than what other generations had been offered.
Are the boomers perfect? No, no way. Many of the things you’ve stated are true. We have squandered many good opportunities to do more for the world and we’ve come up short in many other areas as well.
All I can say is we must do better and we will do better.
Our kids and grandkids are counting on us.
Just don’t count us out…not yet!
Walter
