Before we proceed any further, full disclosure is in order here. I am a boomer, a member of that formerly eminent generation born between the end of the Second World War and the early 1960s. My age peers were at one time described as the most prolific enablers since our cave-dwelling forbears invented the wheel and harnessed fire.
It has been said that the boomers shepherded the Western World through an unprecedented era of prosperity and creativity. According to all reports, the boomers represent one of the most highly educated demographics in recorded history and can lay claim to being one of the most travelled generations ever, rivalled only by Columbus and his seafaring contemporaries.
How quickly the mighty have fallen. Boomers can't catch a break these days. Now there are accusations they are the greatest despoilers of the land and squanderers of resources the Earth has ever known. They stand accused of hatching the evil corporate "system" and all its excesses. During their wayward tenure, global warming reached full stride, fuelled by emissions from gas-guzzling SUVs, their preferred mode of transportation.
Boomers, who claim 60 is the new 40, just don't know when to step aside and let the eager age cohorts behind them take over all those cushy, high-paying jobs. After all, many boomers could be retired and enjoying nostalgic re-runs of All in the Family or Gilligan's Island. They have the option of recapturing their formative years by leafing through dog-eared copies of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and poring over that classic Transactional Analysis epistle I'm OK, You're OK. They could be grooving on their favourite Doors or ZZ Top tunes, or listening intensely to Zamfir pan flute refrains.
Fears are growing that many ailing boomers, who somehow failed to clue into the 60-is-the-new-40 mantra, will soon push our socialized medicine program to the brink of insolvency. A couple of no-holds-barred bloggers on the Globe and Mail and National Post websites put it this way: "I'm a younger worker, I am sick and tired of everything for the boomers. The boomers put us into massive government debt, many lived their personal financial lives recklessly. The expectation is that the party will continue, everything will get passed off to future generations."
"We need to raise taxes to pay for public services and to pay down the debt created by the oh-so-lovely baby boomers a.k.a. the most destructive self-centered generation ever vomited onto the Earth." Yikes! Let that be a lesson to all boomers out there: break open those vodka coolers and batten down the hatches, because our time in the limelight is rapidly coming to an end.
