I am a Boomer. Staying engaged and fighting via local politics to preserve the peace and prosperity for my grandchildren. Paradoxically I have been shocked to be reviled by the woke Millennials, even the ones I raised, but am finding allies among Gen Z. God only knows whether my young Grandchildren will ever comprehend my love and concern for them as their parents poison their minds with hate because “inclusion.” I feel like you nailed the Boomer zeitgeist. We were inculcated with love of God, country and family. We were free range kids- no helmets or car seats. We organized our own games and agreed on the rules. We trust easily and anger slowly. I don’t think we are the generation that had it the easiest. I would apply that to our children, the participation trophy generation. I blame us for contributing, through our coddling, to the narcissism that pervades the culture today.
Thanks for reading and commenting, and good luck with your efforts in local politics. It's interesting that you are finding common cause with Gen Z. A Boomer-Gen Z alliance is an interesting thought.
Apologies that you had such a bad experience with my generation. Many of us are NOT woke and loathe it far more than you might imagine. We have to deal with it at work every day, after all ...
As an 87 year old born in 38 I remember WW2 and Benefited from wealth generated during the 60s, I see bits and pieces of myself in your essay. I saved all my ties, but gave away my wingtips. Am saving 3 Brooks Brothers suits for my son Sebastian. Have a house full of art, books, that my three sons will have to divi up.
My health is great, but the country’s is not. The Constitution is being shredded, and FBI, JD, and court system and being politicized.
"As Boomer Man looks at the world today, he sees beauty and grace and yet feels troubled by a world that seems to be spinning out of control. What kind of society is he leaving his kids and grandkids? How will they navigate the challenges ahead? It is not his fault he was born during the greatest stretch of peace and wealth creation in history. Will he leave the world a better place than he found it? He thinks about this question a lot, even though it’s largely out of his control."
Jeff and Rick, while I was thinking about my reply to this excellent essay, I set it aside and then came back and read Rick’s reply - which perfectly captures what I was trying to put into words. What I keep coming back to is that the big picture and outcome is largely outside of our control but at the end of the day what is inside our control is the example we set with our kids and others with our personal/local/micro choices. Exhibiting kindness, listening to and giving space to viewpoints we don’t agree with, loving for the sake of loving. Creating instead of consuming (like this Substack Jeff). We ourselves can’t take global actions but our local actions can ripple far and wide and have profound influence on a level way beyond what we can imagine.
Thank you Jeff, and Rick for drawing my attention to this.
So well said James. I completely resonate with your perspective, and the feeling I have reading what you have written is that life is well-navigated by a few simple guidelines, like "Exhibiting kindness, listening to and giving space to viewpoints we don’t agree with, loving for the sake of loving." But part of the value I take away from Jeff's article is that the simplicity or wholesomeness through which I view life is perhaps a by-product or gift of my time of birth. And it's my tendency to assume or declare that life is just so simple for one and all. And now I'm questioning this a little bit. Could it be that life isn't so easily navigated for someone who is in their 20s, 30s, 40s? Not sure, but Jeff your article is percolating some very interesting questions in this regard.
...have really enjoyed this series Jeff, and have so many personal unexplored thoughts about what it means to be part of a generation, what it means to be a man, and what the importance is of our role being either...appreciate you getting yourself and these observations onto the page so that i even consider such things...looking forward to the next one...
"[The Boomer] realizes he should give a lot of it away."
Hm....really? This has not been my experience. "He realizes he should spend faster so that he doesn't leave even a penny behind, in fact leaving behind debts and obligations to weigh down his children and grandchildren means he won even harder!" is more in line with all the anecdotes from friends and online.
That's super fortunate and cool. On this side of the tracks no Boomer family member of any of my friends is like that - maybe they think they won't die. Their stereotypical behavior is so on-point that one set of parents missed a wedding so they could go on a cruise. The wedding invite was sent to them months earlier and when asked they said, "But there was such a deal on the cruise, we couldn't miss it!". Another set sold the family home that they inherited so they could go live in the Villages, the boomer Potemkin village. I mean, it's living memes all the way down over here.
It may be a regional Boomer thing but behavior along those lines is too-common here. Another Boomer even spent a fortune building a replica pirate ship in their pool. It's a suburbia too, not a gated mansion area they live in.
To give you a more respectful reply, since you are very thoughtful in your posts, I have a friend who works in repossessions. An increasingly large amount of the work has been tracking down goods, expensive toys really, from dead Boomers. He'll find them with the adult children and inform them that because of refinancing, late payments and simply not paying it off there's so much debt attached to the possession that it would be cheaper to just buy one themselves. The children then surrender the goods to the repo man because they simply can't afford it, it wasn't for them so they weren't interested in it and is a reminder of how frivolous their parent was.
Oh, I see. Yeah my mistake and apologies. Boomers hoarding has left a mountain of un-given away goods when they pass. The most common items are bikes, chinaware, chinaware cabinets and other items that are space-intensive, debt ridden or useless.
I am a Boomer. Staying engaged and fighting via local politics to preserve the peace and prosperity for my grandchildren. Paradoxically I have been shocked to be reviled by the woke Millennials, even the ones I raised, but am finding allies among Gen Z. God only knows whether my young Grandchildren will ever comprehend my love and concern for them as their parents poison their minds with hate because “inclusion.” I feel like you nailed the Boomer zeitgeist. We were inculcated with love of God, country and family. We were free range kids- no helmets or car seats. We organized our own games and agreed on the rules. We trust easily and anger slowly. I don’t think we are the generation that had it the easiest. I would apply that to our children, the participation trophy generation. I blame us for contributing, through our coddling, to the narcissism that pervades the culture today.
Thanks for reading and commenting, and good luck with your efforts in local politics. It's interesting that you are finding common cause with Gen Z. A Boomer-Gen Z alliance is an interesting thought.
Gen Z wants the government to quit micromanaging their lives. Boomers remember what liberty feels like and we want that for them also.
Apologies that you had such a bad experience with my generation. Many of us are NOT woke and loathe it far more than you might imagine. We have to deal with it at work every day, after all ...
My advice: be subversive. If no one is calling you a Nazi then you are doing it wrong.
As an 87 year old born in 38 I remember WW2 and Benefited from wealth generated during the 60s, I see bits and pieces of myself in your essay. I saved all my ties, but gave away my wingtips. Am saving 3 Brooks Brothers suits for my son Sebastian. Have a house full of art, books, that my three sons will have to divi up.
My health is great, but the country’s is not. The Constitution is being shredded, and FBI, JD, and court system and being politicized.
Thank you for describing for me where I am too.
Hi John - I didn't realize you were that old! You look at least 10 years younger. Thanks for reading and commenting and identifying with this.
Gosh, nearly 90 and confidently using computers to comment on blogs. I hope I make it to your age and am still able to do that!
Been following me around in private?
"As Boomer Man looks at the world today, he sees beauty and grace and yet feels troubled by a world that seems to be spinning out of control. What kind of society is he leaving his kids and grandkids? How will they navigate the challenges ahead? It is not his fault he was born during the greatest stretch of peace and wealth creation in history. Will he leave the world a better place than he found it? He thinks about this question a lot, even though it’s largely out of his control."
You've have described the exact decor in my head.
Jeff and Rick, while I was thinking about my reply to this excellent essay, I set it aside and then came back and read Rick’s reply - which perfectly captures what I was trying to put into words. What I keep coming back to is that the big picture and outcome is largely outside of our control but at the end of the day what is inside our control is the example we set with our kids and others with our personal/local/micro choices. Exhibiting kindness, listening to and giving space to viewpoints we don’t agree with, loving for the sake of loving. Creating instead of consuming (like this Substack Jeff). We ourselves can’t take global actions but our local actions can ripple far and wide and have profound influence on a level way beyond what we can imagine.
Thank you Jeff, and Rick for drawing my attention to this.
So well said James. I completely resonate with your perspective, and the feeling I have reading what you have written is that life is well-navigated by a few simple guidelines, like "Exhibiting kindness, listening to and giving space to viewpoints we don’t agree with, loving for the sake of loving." But part of the value I take away from Jeff's article is that the simplicity or wholesomeness through which I view life is perhaps a by-product or gift of my time of birth. And it's my tendency to assume or declare that life is just so simple for one and all. And now I'm questioning this a little bit. Could it be that life isn't so easily navigated for someone who is in their 20s, 30s, 40s? Not sure, but Jeff your article is percolating some very interesting questions in this regard.
"Or jealousy that he has a pension, or that he bought his multimillion-dollar home for 12 raspberries in 1981."
I laughed so hard at this.
Great essay. Nicest thing I've seen written about Boomers since... uh... well, this is the nicest thing I've seen written about Boomers.
Thanks, haha. I worked hard to set aside my issues and give them a fair shake.
...have really enjoyed this series Jeff, and have so many personal unexplored thoughts about what it means to be part of a generation, what it means to be a man, and what the importance is of our role being either...appreciate you getting yourself and these observations onto the page so that i even consider such things...looking forward to the next one...
thanks so much for your guidance and feedback
"[The Boomer] realizes he should give a lot of it away."
Hm....really? This has not been my experience. "He realizes he should spend faster so that he doesn't leave even a penny behind, in fact leaving behind debts and obligations to weigh down his children and grandchildren means he won even harder!" is more in line with all the anecdotes from friends and online.
Not my experience. My parents keep looking for ways to send me and my wife money. They say it's either that or the taxman takes it.
That's super fortunate and cool. On this side of the tracks no Boomer family member of any of my friends is like that - maybe they think they won't die. Their stereotypical behavior is so on-point that one set of parents missed a wedding so they could go on a cruise. The wedding invite was sent to them months earlier and when asked they said, "But there was such a deal on the cruise, we couldn't miss it!". Another set sold the family home that they inherited so they could go live in the Villages, the boomer Potemkin village. I mean, it's living memes all the way down over here.
Skipping a wedding to go on a cruise sounds like there's some deeper dysfunction there than just being of a certain generation, tbh.
It may be a regional Boomer thing but behavior along those lines is too-common here. Another Boomer even spent a fortune building a replica pirate ship in their pool. It's a suburbia too, not a gated mansion area they live in.
Where do you see this? That's an imaginary quote.
To give you a more respectful reply, since you are very thoughtful in your posts, I have a friend who works in repossessions. An increasingly large amount of the work has been tracking down goods, expensive toys really, from dead Boomers. He'll find them with the adult children and inform them that because of refinancing, late payments and simply not paying it off there's so much debt attached to the possession that it would be cheaper to just buy one themselves. The children then surrender the goods to the repo man because they simply can't afford it, it wasn't for them so they weren't interested in it and is a reminder of how frivolous their parent was.
One more common refrain:
https://www.asmartblonde.com/he-with-the-most-toys-wins-wholesale-novelty-sticker-decal/
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1155959191/im-spending-my-kids-inheritance-sticker
Ok. The way you wrote your comment comes across as though you were responding to a quote in my essay… which you aren’t.
Oh, I see. Yeah my mistake and apologies. Boomers hoarding has left a mountain of un-given away goods when they pass. The most common items are bikes, chinaware, chinaware cabinets and other items that are space-intensive, debt ridden or useless.