Go away already!

A link to the column that inspired this posting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-zohn/culture-zohn-boomer-girl_b_113159.html

The David Brooks' article was concise and well written. Brooks' article was about a shift in what it means to be mature and why we should consider character development when selecting a candidate. It was not a rant about Boomers, but it is interesting and revealing that you read it that way.

What is even more revealing is you take credit for writers and musicians who are not of your age demographic. All of the artists you mentioned are from either the Silent Generation or the Greatest Generation. To illustrate, Philip Roth was born in 1915, Joni Mitchell was born in 1943 and Rolling Stones birthdays run the gamut from 1941 - 1947 (and the1947 birthday is Ron Wood, not one of the originals). These are not the Boomer years, but the years of the Silent and the Greatest. If you are going to celebrate your generations' contribution to culture and society, it would behoove you to choose someone who is actually from your generation.

What most X'ers have found grating and officious about Boomers is their "ability" to see themselves as the only people who matter. I graduated high school during the Reagan recession and the only job I could find was assembly work at a sweat shop on Long Island for $3.35 an hour. Yet, every time I turned around I was referred to as a slacker, lazy and unenlightened. Also, during your watch, you pulled the plug on student loans, raised tuitions, started the "War on Drugs", ended pension plans, brought in HMOs and so on. Effectively, you had a good time at the party and left the cleaning up to us. What a hell of a legacy.

Aging gracefully is not about trying to keep yourself relevant or holding on to power or dying your hair so the gray is not showing. Aging gracefully is about knowing when to step aside and let the younger people have their 5 minutes in the light. You are not aging gracefully. Perhaps it is a lesson you really need to learn.