Letters to the Editor
AJCalhoun
Published Letters: 964 Editor's Choice: 127
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This is a "Boomer" Talking?
[Read the article: The Gen Xers are driving me crazy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The hopelessly bored malcontent LW here was born, at the absolute latest, in 1967 ("I'm in my late 40's...") which is 3 years beyond the official end of the Baby Boom years (1946-1964). Admittedly I haven't read all 147 replies yet - I've been busy doing life - so if someone already pointed that out, forgive an old member of "The Silent Generation" who missed the Boom by a year. My bad.
My point, though, and I did have one, is that this LW came of age in the late 1970's and so has very little connection with the previous generation, although trying
to find a name and a way to further divide America by classification is getting awfully old (and so am I, I guess - though too busy to really count the ways). Why on earth, as others have also asked or put, so much intense dislike for younger people? Not long ago they were just little kids and probably quite loveable. Now they're just adults (note I didn't say "young adults" as that covers the insufferable teens through early 20's). We're all laboring under the same delusions, getting the same misinformation, etc. OK, a couple of these Xers are my fault, so blame MY generation or the Boomers for any attitude problems, because we taught them how to be what they are. Us ex hippies and, yes, Beats (that would be me) had some, uh, "interesting" ideas about how we'd raise a kid if WE ever had the chance - and then noticed we'd just knocked up our under-age girlfriend, and so would be having a chance to play opposite B.F. Skinner in Parenting Death Match. I, for one, am happy to report I didn't kill any of mine when the impulse arose, nor did I keep any of them in a box, and they have turned out to be remarkable, outstanding people, the very best Gen X has to offer. OK, I'm cheating. The highest achiever is just about to turn 26, so missed the "X" boat by about the same margin I missed the Boom. My father was 4-F and got a head start, while I finished kind of late in the reproduction sweepstakes.
And that's what's really at issue here, isn't it? Arbitrary distinctions based on age, which are no different than those based on sex, race, appearance, etc. Basically we're discussing the whining of an Age Bigot who is also aging along with the rest of us.
I'll be turning 62 soon. I guess my friends and I totally screwed up the world - although I warned all my fellow Republicans about Dubya way in advance of his being "elected" the first time. They're listening now, too, goddamit. I'm still looking for a job (again, not first for god's sake!). Lazy old bastard got nothing better to do than sit and blast jungle music on the a/v system here in the complex while I also search for a suitable girl (18 to 80, blind, crippled or crazy) to hang with; argue with the cable company and read Deepak Chopra's latest argument for "Life After Death" and then harangue people with his validation of my crazy beliefs. Yes, getting "old" is getting old. Especially when you're in your late 40's.
Come on over, LW, have a hit, or at least a Guiness, listen to some Van Morrison or the Roots or White Stripes and help me piss off the neighbors. "Grow old with me; The best is yet to be."
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My really bad...
[Read the article: The Gen Xers are driving me crazy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Math impaired Old Fart suddenly realizes 1967 + 49 = 2016, a year which apparently hasn't occurred yet. Sweet Jesus save a spot for me in the nursing home, and my apologies to the LW, who I now realize is not only a Baby Boomer for real, but also has every right to hate younger people. I take it all back, every word - except the parts not connected to my math error or blackouts, which I will now blame on drug use and the heart-lung machine they used on me when I was 49. Mea culpa! No wonder the world's in the shape it's in! Why didn't someone stop us??? Apathetic little shits!