I am ashamed of what my generation has willfully done to this country, taking for granted in almost an offhand way, the privileges and legacy passed to us. The group who had the cosmic good fortune to be born at a time of every increasing economic gain and national pride, unprecedented in the history of man, has turned its collective back on the fundamentals of good stewardship and respect for the gifts of our fathers. Our fathers left us privileged.
The “Boomer’s,” of which I am a member, offspring of the “Greatest Generation”, has successfully squandered the inheritance passed to them through the sacrifices of the Great Depression and WWII. We have allowed the ease and freedom of life, given to us by our fathers, to distort our view of the world and our role in it. We took for granted that our lifestyle, system of government, and future well-being were not only self sustaining, but had limitless depth. Through this limitless resource of wealth, and righteous knowledge of right and wrong, we not only could, but should, correct the world’s problems. We felt pangs of guilt for our inherited success.
We started through various means to shift people’s attention from the things that were good in their lives to discontent for what they didn’t have. What they didn’t have we built systems to provided. We secured “success” for those unable to achieve it on their own by tapping off the “excess success” of others. We went to “war on poverty” by the definition at the time. We set about to build a society where “The American Dream” was a “birthright” and should be achieved through the mere act of being. We built a system where opportunity became confused with guarantee. We awarded medals for battles not fought, and thanked the recipients for their lack of effort. We felt good!
We didn’t confine ourselves to deliverance from evil just at home. Like all true believers we became evangelical, sharing our inspired reason with the world at large by whatever means we deemed necessary. We crusaded into many a broken village of backward peoples, raising the inhabitants from their squalor, and leaving them with fresh problems that were incomprehensible to their understanding.
If they were sick and hungry as children we provided medical help and food so they could a least starve as adults. Children, after all, are so cute. When all our help didn’t produce the desired result we invited them home to live with us, just not in the house. We thought they should be grateful, and felt betrayed when they wanted more.
In spite of our best and most inspired efforts the people resisted change. The poor were still poor and the rich still rich. Dismayed by our results we redoubled our efforts, and in that succeeded in making the poor more secure in their poverty. Through the seduction of welfare and legislative entitlements we have been able to create permanence in the underprivileged class. This is one of our crowning achievements of shame.
Coupled with our heartfelt compassion for immigrants and the misery of other nations we have succeeded in creating in our country a halfway house for the world’s poor, and we find ourselves and our children the indentured custodians of the dwelling.
Through increased awareness and enlightenment we found new and more nebulous methods by which to take insult. Our sensitivities to these new areas of disparagement grew exponentially. We now find that we must tip-toe when out in the world for fear of causing irreparable damage to someone or some deity by our speech or actions.
We failed to appreciate and preserve the gift of privilege that we inherited from previous generations. We made perfect the enemy of good, and in doing so lost our place by both definitions. We spent our time harvesting the present with little thought for the future. We failed to replant.
We are leaving our children and our successors in much worse shape for our passing and we should be ashamed.
Discussion
No comments for “Ashamed to be called a “boomer””