OK, BOOMER

Definition: Pejorative
Expressing contempt or disapproval.
Since when did “Boomer” become a pejorative? Lately the phrase “OK, Boomer” is dropped with a smirk and accompanying eye roll. It seems to lump all 75 million of us into one big category that looks a lot like a Trump rally in Kansas.
The phrase defines all of us as narrow-minded, outdated, negatively judgmental, and condescending. OK, I must admit that the planet is in kind of crappy shape from a lot of the empire building choices we made (as a group, not individually). I don’t challenge the assertion that we “don’t get” what the X, Y, and Z generations are dealing with that weren’t necessarily obstacles to us (the bloated housing markets that prevent buying homes, the massive college debt, and shrinking life options). We don’t get it because we haven’t had to deal with it, just like younger generations don’t get what we dealt with. We did think we could do anything, and we did.
We could get further without an education; we could support a family on normal middle-class paychecks (maybe even only one paycheck). The education system our parents supported gave us a good start before we turned around and dismembered it piece by piece. Our parents, coming out of the Great Depression and World War II, built a new place for us out of determination, grit and an unwavering desire to put the bad years behind them and make the world worth what they sacrificed for it. We built on that but did not nurture it.
OK, so maybe I get the “OK, Boomer” eye-roll, but not everything we did was bad and not everyone was or is an asshat.
Can we agree to try to understand how your world is different than ours was and you try to remember what we contributed to the world that wasn’t here before we came along?
We innovated, A LOT, because we didn’t know we couldn’t. We started world-changing businesses in our garages, we marched against immoral wars, we supported and fought for women’s rights, racial justice, gay rights, and reproductive freedom. We didn’t FIX everything, and as we got older some, but not all, of us began to dismantle what we had built.
I know all those old, white men that are running our world make you mad, are out of touch, and seem to only care about themselves and their power and fortunes. I am sick of them myself. In all honesty, I’m ashamed to be categorized with them.
We built it, and then we let it be co-opted for the sake of Wall Street. But the next generations must take what is left of what we started, clean out the gutters (do I dare say, drain the swamp), and make the world a better place.
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