This probably isn’t that new of a thought to most of you all, but another post made me think to share it.
About a year ago my wife and I (both millennials) were taking a long walk and reflecting on some stuff. It occurred to us both that from our early to mid 20s forward it was hard getting good advice from our parents (both Boomers) on life matters. Sure, there’s the usual “they don’t know what the housing market is” stuff, but it seemed like more than that. That’s when we both had the glass shattering conclusion that we have experienced more life than our parents.
We didn’t mean travel. We honestly meant global changes and conflict. Sure, our parents had the Cold War and threats of nuclear annihilation, but it felt like the traumas of the last generation weren’t as frequent, global, and of personal impact. Economic meltdowns, global warming (with local weather events impacting us), 911, COVID… I don’t need to keep going.
So, we came to the conclusion that even though Boomers like to fall back to the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” mantra, it turns out that they went through their adult lives with relatively little global/national trauma. This obviously can’t stand as a generalization for personal trauma, but on a macrochasm scale Boomers are Summer Children (matured during a time of plenty and ease).
As a boomer (at the tail end, admittedly), I too have lived through all of these things. Plus the other thirty years of shit that happened before it.
The world threat that was the USSR and Mutually Assured Destruction. The Vietnam War, two Gulf Wars, and 9/11.
The “Troubles” in Ireland and IRA bombings in London. The Munich Olympics Massacre. The rise of global terrorism. The FLQ crisis. Kent State. Watergate.
Acid rain. Leaded gas and smog.
15%+ mortgage rates. The oil crisis. Wage and price controls. Multiple recessions. The Dot Com bubble.
Police raids on gay clubs. Racial slurs in everyday language. Massive gender inequality.
24" black and white TVs. It took a week to find out how your photos came out. Watching f@#$ing “Tiny Talent Time” on a Sunday afternoon because there wasn’t any else better on the other 5 channels (if that doesn’t traumatize you, nothing will).
You had to go to a library if you wanted to look something up in an encyclopedia.
Cars without seatbelts, crumple zones, anti-lock brakes, traction control or airbags.
F*CK me. “No experience”. Maybe just enough to know how much better things generally are today.
Kids always think that they know more than their parents…until they don’t.
I’m taking a psychology of aging course that gets into the extreme cultural ageism against older adults, and man, I really can’t begin to explain how much it’s humbled me. We’re reading a book called “Happiness is a Choice You Make” by John Leland that I want to recommend to everyone now.
I do wonder if there’s a generational difference in how we’ve been exposed and take in information - along with younger adults and kids being more negatively impacted by the isolation of COVID - but otherwise, yeah, I was going to comment something similar. Throw in the AIDS crisis, satanic panic, and any number of other issues
The one thing I want to maybe disagree on is how much “better” things are today. In some ways, absolutely. In others, like stagnated wages, it’s not. I’m not too interested in doing a deep dive on it today but I’ll keep it in mind for a potential summer project