Boom or Bust

​Last Friday, the New York Times published an online op-ed video by six young voters, titled, "Thanks a Lot, Boomers." I fully understand their anger at the world they find themselves in and trying to make their way through. But in jamming all Boomers together (relentlessly through the op-ed) as merely being one unified group who mucked up the world and elected Trump -- even asking, as they do at the end, for an apology from all "Hey, Boomers" -- while they make some extremely valid points on the problems created in today's world, they end up with a treatise that is, surprisingly for such a detailed document, far more misguided and counterproductive than I suspect intended.

Their issues look back over decades, but though the current Trump administration is rarely mentioned directly in the video, the problems they are right upset about have come to a head as a result of where we are right now. So, only for as a very basic starting point, let's be very clear:

• 49% of "Boomers" actually voted against Trump. Don't lump them ALL together.

• Gen Z men voted for Trump by 16 points.

• Trump made notable gains with men under 50.

In their blast against "Hey, Boomers" (all "Boomers," since they make no distinction), those in the video op-ed single out ridicule of "Boomers" who march at rallies with signs like, "I can't believe I'm still protesting this [EXPLETIVE]," suggesting mockingly that if they hadn't been so selfish and taken the life given them by others for granted, then maybe they wouldn't have to protest now. The thing is, When you're trying to push back against a world and administration pounding down on you, it seems an incredibly poor strategy and deeply shortsighted to attack those giving their time and effort to actually help you. Because stepping back a moment to look, that is precisely what they are doing: these people fighting in their 70s and 80s aren't doing so for their "selfish" future, they are getting involved on behalf of all those much younger to have a better world ahead. Moreover, if those in the op-ed video are unhappy when the "Hey, Boomers" are "still protesting" with them, then it should be easy to grasp that the alternative is wanting them to stop -- and your support will dwindle.

But maybe most of all, dismissing "Boomers" as having an easy life handed to them on a platter by the Greatest Generation who dealt with WWII, that points to only one part of a far-greater reality. "Boomers" were very lucky to be handed a life of comfort without the deprivations of a world war (as have been Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z). But in fairness such a view blindly ignores how tumultuous the 1960s decade was with the Vietnam War, marching for Civil Rights and the beginning of the Women's Rights Movement. Those in the video touch on some of this, in about eight seconds. But in its brevity, omits that 60,000 young "Hey, Boomers" lost lives in a war few understood, others fought in the streets, some went to prison for their beliefs on behalf of others, a few left the country in protest, and there were students shot and killed. The nice things the video glosses over didn't just happen out of comfort.

There was indeed much "ease" at that time, and (as the video notes with the obligatory epigram) "tree-hugging hippies." But the 1960s were a generation of overwhelmingly more than that. And cramming everything together as a single, united "Hey, Boomers" not only does a massive disservice to that generation, but demeans those who largely view it that way.

The world is not that simple. "Boomers" are no more all together one and the same, any more than Gen X, Millennials and Gen X are -- nor as even the Greatest Generation was, many of whom worked to keep America out of the war against Hitler and the Nazis. All generations tend to have it easier and, in some ways, harder than those before them. And make advances, screw around, and cause problems for the future. It's right and justified today for anyone to criticize those who blithely accepted the ease handed them after WWII, who pursued their life selfishly for "What's in it for me?" alone, who closed an eye to those in need, who undid advances, and who let the fascism of Trump grow. But those "Boomers" are the ones who are now calling the rallies and protests "communist", who cry out that those who hate Trump really hate America and supposedly are Antifa terrorists. But they are not the "Boomers" protesting alongside others, who not only have long been angry, too, and are fighting this fight with you, but have been fighting it since they first boomed. And if some people who once were only-always "What's in it for me?" selfish, who lived lives of excess, who supported Trump are now pushing back, too? Well, it's awful for your past actions getting us here, but better late than never. Glad to have you acknowledge how deeply short-sighted you were and welcome. And that's a great sign you made.

(By the way, I think apology is wonderful. I do it often. We all make mistakes and cause hurt. Individually and generationally. Though I've found that pushing others to give an apology rarely gets the result desired, since a meaningful apology comes from personal understanding and the desire to address a problem, not fulfilling an obligatory request.)

I fully understand the anger of those in the op-ed video, anger at the troubling future they see ahead. And anger at problems caused by others before them. Though make no mistake, if one has spent a lifetime pushing for that better world, and (amid the awful failures, we all make them) seeing so many of the great advances getting there -- from civil rights, voting rights, women's rights, legalized abortion, environment protections, affordable healthcare and more -- ripped away and a life's legacy to leave a better world for others shredded is a wrenching reality. But if one looking at the world left them is going to have anger, well-deserved anger, it is always most effective, if only effective to direct it impactfully at the right cause of the problem and not push away those fiercely on your side, who have been fiercely on your side before you even had a side -- merely because you’ve chosen to lump all those "Hey, Boomers" together.

There is a great deal of stupidity, wastefulness, problems and emptiness among Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers. No individual, no group, no generation is immune. To think otherwise is self-righteous. Happily, there is far more to admire in each generation.

Unhappily, the United States and democracy are facing a hellhole of disastrous problems impacting their existence right now.

All the more reason that when one has friends on your side supporting you, I find it helpful beyond all measure to recognize who they are, no matter how convoluted the crowd, and then embrace them and hold them close. Because that's what they're trying to do for you.