Nana Shows How Its Done

If you read the comment to the prior post, you are probably worried that I might be in a whole heap of trouble with my mother-in-law. And I may be. But Nana's post points out exactly what's wrong with the Boomers in "Just Don't Call Me Granny". Most important difference: Nana is unashamed of being a grandmother, and she's a good one. She happens to go to hear bands on Saturday nights not because she is trying to capture her youth but because, well, she likes music, dancing and doesn't need to be in bed by 10 p.m. the way I do. Nana is NOT the problem.

Its not engaging in youthful activities that is annoying about Boomers, its when they pretend they have a monopoly on youth that is annoying. Another operative piece of Nana's comment is the fact that she works. Nana also owns property, makes prudent financial plans, and looks out for her offspring in very clearheaded ways. I.e., she's an adult. She doesn't smoke pot with her kids or divulge the details of her sex life. Thank God. But since my teen years, I have known parents who do those things, failing to understand the boundaries between their own youthful experiences and their children's lives. I can 100% guarantee you that our parents did not have friends who got high with their parents. Boundaries, people.

And now that we are older, they are also refusing to cede territory in the workplace and in politics. This was a bigger problem I had with Hillary and Bill than many other things. They could not grasp that they were not the Hot New Thing, and their sense of entitlement was totally galling. Anyway, that's just one example. As I said yesterday, I can't really pull all the strings together. But don't worry Nana, or Mom, you are NOT the problem. Actually, you might be the solution.

Trying to Get My Temper Under Control

There is one screed, one complaint, one rant, that I have in me that is so vitriolic that I dare not blog about it. It concerns the Babies of the Boom. Oh, how they annoy me. Not any one in particular, but the whole damn lot of them. Every few days, some toss-off article praises their adorable habits or condemns their voracious hunger for public welfare and my blood boils up. I try to formulate a pithy post that brings all my disparate responses together, and I can't. Its a strange area of writer's block. So instead, I will just present these items without comment, and maybe over time, you can see what my problem is.

Just Don't Call Me 'Granny'

And credit to the Oakland City Attorney John Russo (Thanks to A Better Oakland):

Baby Boom politicians have done a uniquely bad job of bringing along new talent. And there are a lot of theories around that. Is it because the Baby Boom generation, having grown up self-identified as the youth generation, cannot conceive outside of itself being the youthfulness, and therefore, doesn’t think of itself in a role as sort of wiser, older, mentoring younger people along and prefers to point the finger at younger people?

This quote is seemingly unrelated to the article above, but then again, it isn't. The refusal of some in the Baby Boomer generation to acknowledge their own aging (and subsequent inability to grow up) has an impact in many aspects of our lives, and we are grappling with that fallout on a daily basis on a national level and even on personal levels, when more senior employees refuse to share wisdom and cede responsibility to younger people, for example.

Awright, so I said I wouldn't comment. But I will return to this topic.