Baby Boomers?

Boomers. We were the generation that wanted to change the world. We wouldn’t accept the status quo. We rebelled against “the establishment.” We hated the war--we got political, we protested, some even died trying to stop it. And stop it we did. It took a while, and there were lots of reasons, but we helped.

It wasn’t just the war. We marched for civil rights as well. Guys grew their hair. Girls burned their bras, hippies got high, and the whole generation brought us rock and roll. We had marches, sit-ins, and boycotts. We protested anything we thought needed changing. Hell, in junior high we even boycotted the school cafeteria.

We were the generation that was going to change the world.

And we did. We made the world better. We fought hard and achieved great things.

So why did we stop?

Back then, we were so progressive. Not progressive as in being Democrats, but progressive in that we were trying to change things. Those causes were all things our un-hip parents yelled at us for. Yet now, few boomers identify as progressive. For good or bad, we’ve changed. We’ve become our parents. We’ve become the establishment.

Recently I was reading the comments on a Fox News site, relating to students staging a school walkout to protest gun violence. Boomers are the largest demographic of Fox News viewers, so I can be pretty sure that many of the comments came from boomers.

And the comments? Things like:

• If that were my kid, I’d drag him out by his hair. 
• Bunch of punks. They’re so stupid. They don’t even know the right names of the weapons.
• Go back to school. Study and get a job.
• Lazy, entitled snowflakes, that’s what they are.
• Where are their parents? Why aren’t they disciplining them?
• What? Did they run out of Tide Pods?
• I hope they get suspended.

You get the idea.

These people, many of them boomers, all sounded like “the establishment” in the 60’s. The establishment that  told us Martin Luther King Jr., was just a troublemaker. Or said “Cassius Clay” was a traitor. Or that Watergate was a witch hunt. Or that yes, war was hell, but we really gotta kill those commies. Or even that the Beatles were nothing--and they need to get their hair cut.

I don’t care if you think these students’ ideas are right are wrong. That’s not the point. You don’t have to agree with the protests of these kids to respect that they’re trying to make a difference. After years of boomers complaining that “kids nowadays” only care about their phones, how refreshing it is to see this generation wake up. So disagree with their stances if you want, but celebrate that they are trying to change the world.

That’s more than most of us boomers are doing now.