ATLANTIC CITY — I’m deviating from my usual positive, upbeat self for this column because while talking to a friend, I was reminded of how many of my contemporaries are in a state of flux right now.
While the older Baby Boomers are beginning to collect their Social Security benefits and the younger Boomers are still holding on to their tenuous employment, we middle Boomers are busy trying to make ends meet “on that slow crawl towards Social Security” as one author put it, many of us working more than one part-time job.
You see, we who were born in the 1950s came of age in the late '60s and early '70s.
Not old enough to vote for president, not old enough to enlist in or be drafted by the military, to join the NAACP or NOW (the National Organization of Women), we tended to be on the fringes of every movement when we were older adolescents.
We swelled the numbers of marchers, protesters and activists for every civil rights cause, even though we could not make a difference at the ballot box. We raised our voices high, even though we had little or no money to back up our talk when we “spoke truth to power.”
While still full of youthful energy and hopeful that we could change America for the better, we took our diverse perspectives and optimistic voices to colleges and universities across this country, educating ourselves to be the decision-makers of the future.
Like generations before us, we too thought we had society’s ills and panaceas all figured out and we were going to make things right once we were in charge.
Then, the 1980s arrived, and with college degrees in hand and job opportunities galore, we threw aside our activist ways and conformed to the working class or middle class ways of our parents, got married, started families and began saving for our first homes.
Consciously or sub-consciously, many of us succumbed to the marketing strategies of advertisers who had targeted our demographic.
By the '90s, we had our minivans, Japanese cars or SUVs. We had our first or bigger second houses. We had our 401Ks, mutual funds, stock portfolios or other retirement accounts. We were beginning to send our own children to our college alma maters. Many of us were planning to retire at 55; others looked forward to their company’s downsizing so that they could take the “early out” package.
All of these trappings made us feel like the movements had been successful; after all, we were living proof that our efforts and the sacrifices of others had not been in vain.
Remember Y2K? Once we got past that marker without the world coming to an end, the stock market crashing or a major technological disaster, we knew it would be smooth sailing. Not so.
As we watched our country enter wars abroad and our government become less and less human- and social services-friendly, many of us began to wonder if we had dropped the ball too soon.
We were further re-awakened by the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Katrina in New Orleans and then, three years ago, a financial catastrophe.
When are we going to hear more talk about the many efforts available to help parents, teen and otherwise, deal with their own lack of parenting skills, feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, depression and outdated employability skills?
Bell's Critical Race Theory, which suggests that the U.S. legal system, among other institutions in our country, is inherently biased against non-whites, made him a controversial figure in many circles.
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1. Aleema said... on Sep 22, 2011 at 06:02AM
“This economy has caused a lot of things and one is that the children of the baby boomers are back home or can't leave, Not that they don't want to, because they cannot afford to. What has come out of that I found is that they are starting their own businesses, making those expensive college degrees work for them and i believe the outcome of the process will be success. But even then the even younger generation are losing hope, the high price college no longer fuels them to succeed. There is nothing to look forward to. I have heard them say "why go to college, we can't get a job" So i believe for them and us all, it is up to us baby boomers to as Jessie said "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" for not only our selves but our children and grand children so they may keep their dreams and goals in sight to become metaphorically speaking the next " president of the United States"”
2. Njideka said... on Sep 23, 2011 at 11:59AM
“As a baby boomer the reality is all that we see and hear is media doom and gloom that is affecting us mentally, emotionally and physically. Our major problem is we have stopped thinking and asking questions so we can make the changes necessary to live a better quality life. We are only looking at the economic picture according to the media and not seeing that life is still moving forward as it always will with or without us. The choice is ours to stand up and do something that will make a difference in our lives and the lives of future generations.”