General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Young people don't want their parents' stuff [View all]Sparkly
(24,147 posts)At least there's a lot we didn't give them.
We didn't give them the same set of racial and sexist discrimination we fought against, let alone assault, without any legal recourse.
We didn't give them a military draft requiring boys to fight and die as young as 18, before they were trusted to drink or vote.
We didn't give them a childhood watching the leaders who offered hope for a way forward being assassinated, one after another.
We didn't give them college campuses where students were shot dead for peaceful demonstrations.
And we weren't victims, either. Because there's a lot our parents didn't give us.
They didn't give us a life of national famine with no end in sight, as they saw in the 1930s.
They didn't give us childhoods sacrificing for fear that genocidal foreign powers might destroy us in our beds, as in the 1940s, and beyond.
They didn't give us a life with zero chance for upward mobility, before FDR, the GI Bill and other federal investments.
They didn't give us lives without indoor plumbing and electricity, as many of them knew as normal, and many in our generation grew up with.
And they would say they weren't victims, either. Because THEIR parents.... etc..
This is the natural course of an evolving nation's progress.
What a shame, though, that the "Boomers" have burdened the next generation with -- OMG! -- having to deal with stuff. Few could imagine the life-altering impact!!
I would say that this is part of the course of progress as well -- even Socrates noted the unparalleled insolence of adolescence in his day -- but I think this is cultural, because my generation knew and appreciated the progress our parents made, and the progress we were making as we fought forward. We saw the sacrifices they made, and knew the benefits bestowed to us, and were clear about the road ahead. Now, it's fashionable to be "post-feminist" and complain that "If I must do anything for my country, then I'm not truly free!" and whine about "I can only vote my conscience."
I'm sorry. NO PITY. I continue to believe we need a national draft -- not military necessarily, but SOME service to others -- along with unity of cause. Because it seems to me the politics of the day -- around the 1980s -- succeeded in tearing apart everything that once held us together, including generational connections. (Hence the all-out attacks against the Clintons, as representatives of the 1960s.)
Please consider these things, read up and talk to old folks, think about it and keep it in mind whenever you find yourself reading, or assuming, anything about "Boomers." This is a HUGE part of the divide the rightwing has created in our culture and country.