It's like finding out you've been wearing Mom Jeans for years; that you've never heard of, say, the Radioheads; that you're wearing hopelessly dated underwear. Boomers held sway for so many years, partly because there were so many of us and partly because we did, by God, have an impact, messy or not. Look at the sixties.
But now, alas, we're old. Interest in our generation seems limited to how many of us will get reverse mortgages, burden Medicare, move into retirement homes.
And post-election, another dimension: we're not only old and white, but we're conservative. Apparently, scads of us voted for Mitt Romney. Therefore we're so, you know, like, irrelevant. Demographically, we're on the losing side.
Well, hell! I'd like to point out to pundits and columnists that plenty of boomers are liberal, Obama-voting, gay-marriage promoting, feminist-identified, pro-choice insistent people. Not all of us were in the group of dejected over-groomed white people who stood around in Romney headquarters the other night. Instead, we identified with the casually-dressed, multicultural crowd in Chicago who lost their minds when Obama was announced the winner. Lots of us lost our minds right along with them.
And one more thing: Don't underestimate the slew of Boomers who have raised remarkable daughters and sons who are now carrying the flag, young people who are passionate, enlightened, and empathic. They give me hope.
The other night, I let go of worry about the soul of this country and became a bit more comfortable with accepting my own irrelevance. Those young people are the future, thank God. And they've been nurtured by the best.
 |
| My friend Debbie (r) and her two daughters, Annie and Libby, Democrats all. |
.
No comments:
Post a Comment