Saturday, April 18, 2009

Take That Greedy Baby Boomers

I arrived too late the other night for a lecture at The University of Texas-Austin (my alma mater), by Tom Brokaw. The tickets were free, but the parking was atrocious. I finally gave up, despite the fact that I had been really excited to hear his thoughts on The Greatest Generation. My grandparents, and our World War II veterans.

On the way home, I passed by the LBJ library on the upper level of IH35. And got to thinking as I so often do, about politics. And I remembered one of the greatest presidents in that "great" generation who loved civil rights. Will a future generation be able to top my Grandparents? Highly unlikely.

So imagine my surprise when I was listening to Talk radio the very next day, and they were talking about Generation X and Y.

And how awesome we are.

The conversation made me hate all baby boomers universally. Those greedy monsters. They stole all of our social security. I want to write a book about the baby boomers. Called "The Generation Who Paid For My Life With Credit Cards, And Bankrupted My Future."
No one wanted to take Generation X seriously back in the day. Much less Generation Y. In the 1990's, we were focused on getting AIDS, and appeared to be the generation who would take that hit the hardest. We loved Nirvana and Grunge Rock. Nobody thought we cared. And now everybody is eating their words.

In a recent study, our generations were found to be the most optimistic about the future of every generation polled. And the least likely to depend on government to fix our woes.

We knew we couldn't depend on anyone, not even Mother Earth. Luckily, our greedy baby-boomer parents raised us with this perception.

As soon as social security flew out of our hands, really before we ever got started, we formulated a new plan. More of us went to college, and many more than that, say in every poll the very same thing.

That we don't believe there are jobs for us. But, if we just educate ourselves a little more, by doing graduate degrees and getting extra certification, we will realize the American dream.

I was so surprised to read this poll.

And even more surprised by it's findings that we don't care as much about money as the baby-boomers, and especially the Greatest Generation. The Great Generation considered financial stability the end all, be all. But, Generation X and Y believes that the most important things are family, friends, and children.

Getting back to basics.

Generation X and Y have also been trained to save. To preserve what little we have. We grew up recycling and being miniature environmentalists.

Trying to hold onto what little was left of our blue skies. And Arctic ice.

The kids are alright, but the parents....Well you reap what you sow baby-boomers.

10 comments:

  1. one more nice article!

    as per the chart given above, I belong to boomers group. can I take liberty, in giving sermons :P (just jokingly)

    btw, you have mentioned about Nirvana. what it means here? nirvana is a sanskrit word meaning extinction of all attachment

    nice analysis

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  2. Srinivas,

    I definitely won't hold it against you :) Nirvana is the name of a very famous American band whose singer committed suicide in 1994. I love the real definition that you presented!

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  3. Here we are now...entertaainnn usss!

    nice blog and nice post. Wow I would have been pretty bummed to miss out on an opportunity to see tom brokaw lecture live

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  4. Well, my apathetic little Millenial butt thinks we're all doomed anyway, but it's nice that we're making the effort... :)

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  5. Asoom,

    I really was! Although his voice can be so booming and annoying. UT parking really is that bad! Love you.

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  6. Amber,

    Maybe this is all a conspiracy on the part of the baby-boomers to make us think the kids are alright, and then pull the carpet out from under us. Almost like they're hoping we'll be complacent with just family and friends, and let them roll in cash. Love you!

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  7. I guess we really are the most optimistic generation! I never really thought about that. But I loved our grandparents, who fought for the right to vote and have their own bankaccounts, without thinking a mini skirt meant freedom. Luv ya Grandma!

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  8. I like the Grandparents too. Their starting to annoy me a teeny bit though because they don't seem to get how tricky it is to find a job now :) Love you!

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