“TIME AFTER TIME, WHEN FACTS COLLIDED WITH FEELINGS, THE BOOMERS CHOOSE FEELINGS.” --Uh OH.
How the baby boomers-not millennials-screwed America.
“The boomers inherited a rich, dynamic country and have gradually bankrupted it."
HTTPS://WWW.VOX.COM/2017/12/20/16772670/BABY-BOOMERS-MILLENNIALS-CONGRESS-DEBT
Who Said Don't Trust Anyone Over 30?
Don't trust anyone over 30. If you're over 30
yourself (and then some), you might know the origin of this saying. Jack Weinberg, a
lefty Berkeley-based activist, coined the phrase back in 1964, just as things
were heating up politically across many fronts.
Selling out:
To betray one's cause or associates especially for personal gain. Selling out is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money. In terms of music or art, selling out is associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or commercial audience; for example, a musician who alters his material to encompass a wider audience may be labeled by fans who pre-date the change as a sellout.
What makes someone a sellout?
If you’re
over 30 yourself (and then some), you might know the origin of this saying.
Jack Weinberg, a lefty Berkeley-based activist, coined the phrase back in 1964,
just as things were heating up politically across many fronts. My dad used to
quote it all the time, with a fair amount of irony. (He himself was over 30 by
the time I came along.)
But I haven’t heard this adage much in the past 15 years or so. It’s a perennial habit to bemoan “kids today,” but it seems like the latest generation is really getting nailed. The prevailing wisdom has been that they’re all narcissistic, entitled and selfie-obsessed, ruined by too many trophies and too few character-building failures. “The Me-Me-Me Generation,” a Time magazine cover called millennials back in 2013. How much do you want to bet that headline was written by a baby boomer?
As far as I can tell, the baby boomers took a country that
offered more people a fairer shake than it ever had before, and instead of
guarding that opportunity and building upon it, they squandered it. Under their
watch, the safety net is being gutted, the planet is almost literally on fire,
people are zombifying themselves on opioids, and more citizens are stockpiling
weapons than in recent memory. Thanks, guys! Baby Boomer Weinberg is well
over 30 himself now — and so, for that matter, am I. But today, as the world
gets hotter and hotter — in every sense — this quote rings truer than ever.
Those of us over 30 have clearly screwed things up. I look to my kids and their
peers, all still too young to vote, and follow their lead.
Unfortunately, we haven’t given our kids the best soapbox. Many
of them are crouching in the corners of their classrooms, hoping those weapons
aren’t aimed at them. Still, when they talk, I listen. I listen to the Parkland
kids, who it’s fair to say are leading the national conversation on gun
control, willing to step up against the National Rifle Association when our
elected legislators refuse. I listen to the youngest voices in the #MeToo
movement, who point out that the binary approach their parents took doesn’t
always apply. I listen to my own kids, so young their generation hasn’t yet
been named, already savvy about elections they aren’t old enough to participate
in. They’re quick to correct me when I use the wrong pronouns for one of their
friends; careful to point out the inherent racism and misogyny about pop
culture I once took in uncritically. They’re tuned in — and they’re not
dropping out.
When kids are really little, they see the world with fresh eyes;
their lack of preconceived ideas allows them to show us the world anew. It’s
one of the greatest gifts of parenthood. Now that my children a little older
and a lot more aware, they’re still doing this for me. They hold a mirror up to
a society that many of us have given up questioning and force me to
reconsider my own biases and assumptions.
Many of the strongest, most outspoken people I know are under 30 (or even under 20). They are the ones giving me the greatest sense of hope. I
look forward to this generation taking the reins. I wish we could offer them a
better world than the one they’re getting.
It will take a while yet before my children’s generation is in a
position of true power, however. For now, it’s still on me and you. I’m
reminded of an ancient Jewish parable about an old man planting a tree. “You
won’t live long enough to see that tree bear fruit,” a passerby pointed out.
“When I was born, the land was filled with trees,” the man replied. “I plant
these trees not for myself, but for my grandchildren.”
It may be hard to trust anyone over 30, but for now, we have no
choice to depend on ourselves. Think of it this way: We are planting trees for
our kids.
Naomi Shulman
Comments
Post a Comment