iPentimento | Genealogy and History

Writer Dennis Prager, in his article of December 4, 2007 suggests that my Baby Boomer generation owes our children an apology (see Baby Boomers Owe Young People an Apology) for such things as robbing them of their childhood to teaching them about sexuality (like that is a bad thing?) by putting condoms on bananas.

How far back should the blame go?

If it wasn’t for the up-tight generations that came before us, the WW II generation wouldn’t have had the cannon fodder for the Vietnam war that they did. Fine young men and women that died in a war that was mostly all about greed, and very little about Democracy. Pardon me if I join the ranks of the much disillusioned Mr. Prager, because it was our parent’s generation that chose to blindly OK the Vietnam War rather than standing up to what the boomers came to recognize as “the establishment“. Only after we got fed up with seeing body bags coming home in droves did we stand up and say, “Hell no, we won’t go”.

Every generation has made mistakes with their children, and only by virtue of it being the most recent and memorable, does anyone have the audacity to blame the Baby Boomers for our current moral decay. By allowing my generational compatriots to die by the thousands, why would it be a surprise that we were left with the feeling of hopelessness and despair that led to so many who could not, and refused to, function in the “idyllic” society in which they had grown up?

It is ludicrous to say that we robbed our children of their childhood. I can only speak with authority of the many BB’s I know, but there are hundreds, which should give a good enough representation, that we did the best we could to involve our children in enriching pursuits that we were able to enjoy when we were kids: Boys and Girl Scouts, science fairs, baseball teams, family dinners and attending family reunions to name a few.

We taught our children to write thank you notes for gifts, and to place letters in the paper thanking teachers and counselors when they were selected to go to Business Week. They were instructed in the proper table manners and to think for themselves: something our parent’s generation had not done, instead behaving like sheep.I think that the statement that all of my generation chose not to grow up is patently incorrect also. If the majority of us had not, you would not have the far more socially and intellectually savvy Generation X 30-somethings. Those who have taken the reins from the early generational pioneer Baby Boomers who had the vision to think outside the box. Baby Boomers who witnessed the follies of their parent’s generation began that crusade of liberal thinking by believing that “anything is possible”.

Yes, we could talk about sex, and enjoy it.

True, there was a sexual revolution during the 60′s and 70′s. For too many generations it was promoted as something dirty and shameful, instead of what it most certainly is, which is a glorious moment that two people share. Too many men were let off the hook (and still are, in my opinion) in the contraception department. So much so that the WW II generation fathers not only couldn’t demonstrate in a healthy way to their own sons how to do a simple task like put a condom on properly, they couldn’t even say the word sex in public without a resounding gasp from anyone in hearing distance. When they invented the birth control pill, Pandora’s box was literally open.

Career women, take a bow

“So, to those of you women who have career success and didn’t get married, we sincerely apologize. Turns out that most careers aren’t as fulfilling as we promised.” — Prager

I believe that we owe much more to the career women who were out there holding down jobs and raising children as single mothers than an apology. They did the job they were allowed to rise to in the corporate ladder, kept their homes clean, and tried to be good spouses if they were married. If the careers were not as fulfilling as they had been led to believe, you can blame the men who are to this day still keeping intelligent women under their thumbs and below the glass ceiling. If men could get over themselves and their egos, perhaps we could be benefiting from the intelligence of both sexes today. If the majority of American business is dictated by men, who should we blame when it all goes to hell?

Our society today could be much better, true. But to blame one generation is total lunacy, and inaccurate. Don’t include me in your blanket apology Mr. Prager. Instead of trying to grab some publicity with your assumptions, maybe you need to take a course in ancient history. Each generation has plenty to answer for.