It's what we came for, just ...

It's what we came for, just not the way we imagined.



Britannica.com
Dear Boomers and anyone wondering what went wrong.

We have seen so much: rabbit-ear TV, Bandstand, the birth of Rock 'n Roll, the Iron Curtain, the election of Kennedy, Russian shoe banging, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War, JFK, RFK, MLK assassinations, civil rights movement/protests, Vietnam/protests, a man on the moon, the space race, the arms race, the Beatles, muscle cars, fast forward to 911, wars in the Middle East, new planets discovered, the Internet, and now Covid-19.

Clearly, this is the shortlist. And in those experiences, we saw hope. The New Age, Aquarius, the Harmonic Convergence, rallies for peace and human rights. We were the Boomer Brigade and we were going to change the world, out with the old, in with the new and dispelling darkness along the way.

Then STUFF happened. Yup, all kinds of stuff. Incomes were good. Job security was good and there was plenty of credit available and we liked it. We bought lots of stuff, went out a lot, began to travel and enjoyed the newest throwaway gadgets, longed for the newest catalogs, charged up a storm and ignored (by many) the cries of Silent Spring. Not all, mind you, but most. We were coming into our social, political, and economic power and we were convinced that new technology would solve all of our problems.

It didn't. New technology created as many problems as it solved. We were killing Mother but we falsely believed that it would all right, it'll get fixed. It wasn't. And, as the Great Recession stipped many of their things, we came to realize that something went awfully wrong. We did not seem to usher in an age of peace and love, but rather a time of 1984 non-thinking, dumbed-down, non-empathetic, Big Brother is watching you, scorched Earth extinction ridden planet.

We became stressed out, made fortunes for the health care industry, and began to blame everyone and anything but us for our woes and sorrows. We failed in our mission, hell, we forgot our mission.

And here we are, being taken out by something some scientists claim isn't even living and stocking up on toilet paper.

Okay, that was the no so good news. But take heart my fellow Boomers, we are, in fact, close to mission accomplished! Yes, instead of taking the easy road, as usual, we took the hard road. I guess we all learn more this way. We thought the system could be fixed from within. We were, basically, wrong, at least the way we were doing it. And along comes Covid 19, which resulted from our dumb actions and spread because of our dumb president. We did not imagine that we would bring in the Light on a Dark Horse. But we have and this little dead thing has done more to change the world in months and we did in many years. I hate to say, but perhaps this was the plan all along. Many of you will remember bemoaning that we had no guidebook--it was lost or we just forgot to bring it. But if we saw this in the guide, I wonder what we would have done. Sure, we may have prevented the pandemic but things would have continued along the dead-end road we were on. This would surely have been a failure.

I think we may pull this. The lives we have and are losing are not in vain. The world will not be the same along this path and that's what we wanted, it's just not the way we imagined it. When it's all said and done, we'll gather our souls around those Light balls we created in 1987 and have a grand congratulatory Soul Fest. After that, we can then finally move on as awakened beings, awakened gods in search of new adventures in this infinite sea of consciousness.

THE BABY BOOMER LEGACY

Many have said that the election of Barack Obama represents the end of the era
of the baby-boomer generation. I beg to differ. In fact, the election of Obama is the fulfillment of the baby boomer generation.

As we pass the torch of power, boomers can feel a sense of redemption when Obama takes the oath of office. In truth, our moment in history will be recorded as the one that most altered the course of history. Arising from the ashes of World War II, boomers literally rocked the world in the 60's and 70's. Rejecting the ideology of those who came before us, we declared that LOVE' is the answer to all of our questions. We institutionalized our historic commitment to equality for all. From civil rights to gender rights, we broke the back of hatred and bigotry. We said 'no' to separate but equal' and proclaimed that no topic is sacred and beyond question. We raised
the 'red flag’ on environmental destruction. We 'caught a glimpse' of the true nature of our relationship to each other and the world in which we live; but, our failing was that we became consumed by consumption.

As the 'age of technology' took hold we were fascinated by all things new. Gadgets and gizmos, a speeding lifestyle, and life on the go with fast food and fast cars were as enticing to us as it was reported to be to the Atlanteans of ancient lore. We thought we could do both; conspicuously consume and erase our sin by pushing for bottle bills. Money flowed like water from a garden hose as we were enticed to buy more, toss away, and then buy some more. Gold cards, Platinum cards, and equity lines of credit enabled us to spend double, triple our wages. And so what, government was doing it, why not us? To fight rising prices we sent our production to foreign workers who received pennies a day in sweat shops. As long as the gadgets and the credit kept flowing, we could ignore the cries of child labor in remote places of the world. Our money was the standard for the world and our military kept it that way. Mess with us and the newest technology and super weapons would set you straight.

But, in the deep recesses of our memory, we felt the growing pains of the seeds that we planted in the 60’s and 70’s. Something was not quite right. We were haunted by the memories of ‘love-ins,’ the toppling of a president that had gotten out of control, civil rights marches and the recurring dream of Camelot. And even though the never really free market system continued its daily barrage on our senses to spend, spend, and spend – deep down inside – we began to question. What was with all of the new diseases? Why do our children not want to learn? What is happening to all of those species that once populated our lakes, forests and jungles? Why is the weather acting so strange? What is happening to our culture? Why are crime rates getting out of control? What is that spilled oil really doing to our environment? Are you sure those materials are safe? Who really did make that sweater? Where are all of the jobs going? Why is it getting more difficult to pay all of those credit cards?

Our peaceful but shaky world shattered on 9/11. Our attention and questioning was diverted and we rallied to fight the new enemy. But who where the enemy? We could not find them. In a state of fear and paranoia, we gave away freedoms, money and lives. And, as my good friend Marvin Wilson would say, Owen Fiddler came to town. It was time to pay the fiddler, the piper and the ferryman. Stretched beyond our means to a level that only the bankers knew and even encouraged, the money tree was chopped down. We all know the story; it plays out in the news every day. We, the “baby boomers,” brought ourselves to a state of collapse. We made thing so bad that only the most ignorant would say we could stay the course. Had all of this not happened, we would have awakened one morning to find that our ecosystem had collapsed and that there was nothing we could do to alter the continuation of the “Sixth Great Extinction” that would soon include the human species. By bringing our lifestyle to an abrupt halt, we had to take notice.

Barack Obama’s election was our crowning achievement. Not because he is some super human savior that will solve all of our problems, but because he represents the re-emergence and manifestation of the dreams of those aged ‘flower children.’ Because of our errors and our ignorance, we have allowed the Lady of the Lake to return Excalibur. Not to President Obama, but to us. But we are not yet finished. We must still lead our children to the Promised Land, even if many of us will not enter it. This is not in any religious sense, but rather in the sense that we must continue to teach and remind the new generations not to repeat our mistakes. This is our parting gift,our legacy; we have shown the world how not to live.