How the Baby Boomer Generation Changed "Everything" in American Society

INTRODUCTION

This Hub is being published after I ran into a Hub written by a Gen X Hubber. The Hub is "A Child of Generation X Speaks Out," and the Hubber who wrote it is "VAMPYGYRL420". VAMPYGYRL420, in her Hub, essentially says she's sick of hearing people of her parents' generation say negative things about people of her generation (Gen X). What VAMPYGYRL420 says in her Hub is reasonable enough, and she has her points. (By the way, I don't want to embarrass her by including her name here. I just thought it would be right to give credit, and call attention, to the "inspiration" for this particular Hub you're reading. I'll let VAMPYGYRL420 know I'm mentioning her name and including a link here. If, for some reason, she prefers I remove both I'll be glad to do that.

This Hub is not intended to be any kind of rebuttal to the Hub written by VAMPYGYRL420 (which is why I thought she wouldn't mind if I called attention to her Hub and the perfectly valid thoughts she expresses in it).

A NOTE ON DEFINITIONS OF THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS

There are different definitions of "Gen X", one of which includes people born between 1961 and 1981. At the same time, the "Baby Boom" generation is defined in different ways, as well. Some define as being born between 1943 and 1960. Others define it as being born between 1946 and 1964. As you can see, some definitions would include some overlap between the Boomer generation and Gen X . Then there is the "millennial" generation (Gen Y), generally said to be born 1977 and 1998 (of course, the younger among this generation are still children, so in a discussion of this nature it may make sense to set aside the youngest among that group).

A WORD ON HOW I'LL REFER TO DIFFERENT GENERATIONS HERE

To make things easy for me (and to make my points) I've going to divide up the Boomers into four groups and name each group:

For those who include people born as early as 1943 in the Boomer generation (but in view of the fact that not everyone includes this group in their definition of "Baby Boomer"), I'll call the earliest born Boomers, as more broadly defined, the "borderline Boomers".

The people most commonly associated with the term, "Baby Boomers", are generally those born in the late 40's. I'll call this group, "first-wave Boomers" (and I'm not suggesting that I'm at all original or unique in using this term for this group).

Another wave of people "well established" as Boomers came in the early to mid 50's, with the 10 years following the end of World War II most often associated with the Post WWII Baby Boom. I'll call this group "second-wave Boomers".

People born in the late 50's are included in the generation, although, of course, they were born more than 10 years after the end of the war.

With some definitions of this generation including people born as late as 1964, I'll call this group, "tail-end Boomers".

JUST SOME OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS

I'd like to mention that I'm not among the first group of Baby Boomers (partly because I don't want anyone thinking I'm any older than I already am; and if there's one thing we Baby Boomers are known for, it's going into later middle years kicking and screaming). More relevant than that, though, is that I was still in high school when college-aged, first-wave, Boomers were in the process of demonstrating for peace, aiming to change much of what had been valued by previous generations, and being very effective at getting the rest of the nation to pay attention to what they had to say. College-aged kids were my older sister's age. What was going on with kids a few years older than I was (and in college) was not going on with kids my age when I was in high school. Still perfectly admiring of my two wonderful parents and the nice childhood and lifestyle they'd offered their own three children, I didn't particularly relate to a lot of the demonstrations that were making the news or a lot of the things the kids a little older than I was were fighting for.

What that group of Boomers were fighting for wasn't all bad. The fact is there were a lot of very positive changes ushered in by that group of Boomers. There were also a lot of negative changes. Still entrenched in, and happy with, my home life and parents, I saw some of those negative changes as "destroying a lot of things that are good." Again, though, the positive changes for which that first group of Boomers was largely responsible were changes long past due (long, long, past due). So, even though I was a teen, I was a reasonable and fair-minded person; and I saw both the positive and negative aspects of the onslaught of society shifts ushered in my people my older sister's age. I think because I saw changes I perceived as "negative" as something that "tipped society on its head" just when I was figuring out my place and future in it, I resented a lot of the upheaval that was taking place.

As time went on and I started to hear how people my age were "another wave" of Boomers, I, of course, took my place among the Baby Boomer generation, ready, too, to share in the blame for some of those negative (even destructive) changes. The other side to that, however, was that I got to be proud of the generation that essentially decided to end some of the ignorance and cruelty that had managed to survive in American society for far too long.

When I read the Hub to which I've referred, it made me feel kind of bad - not because I'm a Baby Boomer, but because the author seemed so alienated from people of my generation. Also, she seems to believe that all Baby Boomers think alike (and don't think much of her generation). You see, my own children are Gen Y ("Millennial") people. Even as a Baby Boomer, I absolutely adore and admire my grown sons and daughter. I do see ways in which they have grown up to think even more differently than previous generations, and I see things they have to deal with that, to me, they shouldn't have to. Like a lot of parents of my generation, I feel a sense of sadness that my children haven't had the chance to grow up, and eventually live as adults, in a world that offered some things that would, for my kids' generation, turn out to have been a luxury they would never have.

I don't mean monetary/material things either. I mean a whole different society that's plagued with so many things my own generation didn't have to worry about. Still, my children's generation has also inherited a better world in many ways. I won't go into all the major, positive, changes that my children have benefited from, or will benefit from. We all know what they are. The point is that even with those major and positive changes, the world in which my children will spend their adult lives, and into which they will bring their own children, is also darker, in many ways, than it was when I grew up. Another point is that, as a Baby Boomer, if I notice some of those darker aspects of the world Gen X and younger people have inherited (or will inherit, in the case of the youngest "millennials"; I don't put down my children's generation. Instead, I feel sadder for people of their age. Even though I, personally, didn't always think the "standard way" a lot of Boomers thought (and so had little to do with the world my children's generation has inherited), I feel sorry that my own generation was quite as successful as it was at undoing a lot of what shouldn't have been undone. Since I know that, no matter what any of us (of any age) thinks about anything, none of us (from any generation) "all think alike".

As with all generations, it's always the most vocal people who create the impression that whole generations "all think alike". So, when I read the Hub to which I've referred, my immediate reaction was to want to let the author know we (the Baby-Boom generation) aren't the enemy. There are plenty of people among us who treasure and admire much about our children's generation. There are a lot of us, too, who are concerned for that generation. As is always the case, the less vocal and less critical among us aren't always heard in public. It would be lying to say there aren't things about Gen X (or Gen Y) that I think are misguided; but the other side to that is I blame my own generation for allowing some things to happen with its children (so even in those instances, I, and people who think as I do about some of these specific issues, don't criticize Gen X. We criticize SOME parents of Gen X people).

The Hub to which I'm referring can be found at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Child-of-Generation-X-Speaks-Out

When I read the Hub at the above link, I thought of something I'd written on my "No Senior Coffee " blog in November of 2008. I took the post off the blog and am including it below.

On the blog I'd called it, "The Baby-Boom Generation - The Uglier Legacy of My Own Generation"

MORE ON THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS/GROUPS

In my travels on the Internet I've so often run into people who will say, "Nobody wants to read anything that's long on the Internet." I'm under the impression a lot of the people who that are Gen X people and younger (if you can appreciate the little attempt at sort-of humor there). The following piece is long. What I've discovered, though, is that a surprising number of people (even those on the Internet) still occasionally (and even regularly) enjoy a piece of writing that has more than 400 or 500 words. So, I'm posting it below, with the idea that some of what I've written may be of interest to the author of the Hub I've mentioned above.

In the piece below one of my complaints about my own generation is that this was a group of college people (and some younger siblings who came along) who didn't realize that they were "so smart" and "so educated" because the very parents for whom so many had so much disdain had made them into what they were. It's the same with Gen X and Gen Y people today. For the most part, those who "smart" and "on the ball" are that way because their parents made them that way. Those who are mixed up and disgruntled are generally that way because their parents made them that way (no matter how kind and well-meaning their parents may have been).

There may be one big disadvantage and difference when it comes to Gen X and the next group. Whenever parents are trying to raise "solid, well adjusted, citizens" there is some pull from the world outside the home. My WWII-generation parents got to raise their children in a society that generally valued childhood and "family values" the same way my parents did.

My older sister got through high-school before the major "upheaval" in America began to get started in colleges. With peers, professors, and activists influencing the flock of students who graduated around 1965 (give or take), my parents' generation had the luxury of getting that first wave of Boomer-children to college age before major, conflicting, influences kicked in.

They also got their second-wave Boomer children through high-school before first-wave college-grads took their place in "the real world" and the influences of college life began pulling at the next wave of Boomers. Although things may have been a little more challenging for the parents of kids who were final-wave-Boomers; many of the destructive changes still hadn't filtered down beyond high-school and into junior-high level.

In the years since first-wave Boomers took their place in the real world and eventually became parents society has changed so much it has increasingly posed challenged to parents aiming to fight off negative influences long enough for their children to mature.

So, the generation just before Gen X was raised (and influenced) by Boomer parents, in a world that had more influence than the outside world had previously had on children and teens. That means (generally, of course) that the parents of Gen X children brought "new thinking" into parenting, but also that there were increased degrees/numbers of outside influences presenting challenges to parents aiming to be the biggest influence on their children. In other words, by the time Gen X came along a lot of parents had "new thinking", and the entire society had changed to the point where outside influences/ forces that weren't necessarily supportive of "older" values and thinking had become more powerful.

While a lot of Boomers had WWII generation parents, or at least "Pre-Baby-Boom Parents"; and therefore had grown up having been influenced by parents with "pre-major-shift" values and thinking; the oldest of the Gen X generation were generally the first group of people born to "post-major-shift" parents (and into a "post-major-shift" outside society).

Although I'm generalizing here (and in a lot of other places as well, because defining any generation in a 20-year-span leaves some big differences in the ages of any generation); while Boomers grew up with the benefit of "old" thinking and values it could later choose to reject, Gen X people could be said to be the first group to grow up that removed enough from "old" thinking and values that it didn't have those to reject. Although, again, this is generalizing, and people/families are individuals; it could be said that when Boomers threw out their parents' old ways of doing things they were left to think up their own, new, ways. While, even with the flaws that existed in "old thinking", much of how the parents of Boomers did things was tried-and true,. Gen X people, on the other, might be said to have been more likely to be raised on "experimental" parenting.

While the Boomers had seen things in society that were unjust and wrong, what many had not realized was that the "don't-trust-anyone-over-30" thinking of the Boomer generation didn't allow for separating the "outside" ills of the overall society, and the more internal (or at least private) process of nurturing and rearing children. In other words, something like racial inequality was a horrible problem in society (and I'm not suggesting it didn't affect people all the way to their inner core). It was, however, a separate type of problem from something like whether or not parents expect their children to treat them with respect. As a result, Boomer parents often rejected things their parents did and thought just because they were of that earlier generation.

With high numbers of kids graduating from college and getting advanced degrees (in contrast to WWII-generation, middle-class, people; who often didn't go to college and who worked so hard to make sure their Boomer-kids did), the Boomers were in many ways the "We-Everything/We-Know-Better" generation. Their parents knew they didn't always know everything or know better; and their Gen X kids would often grow up often seeing the same thing. While Boomers had to deal with parents "stuck in old ways", Gen X people might be said to have the opposite problem of parents with values or philosophies of a "shifting sand" nature.

While generations may include people with birth years as much as 20 years apart, over the course of any 20 years a lot of "moving on" and "moving away from the past" goes on. It's probably safe to assume that the oldest Gen X-ers are that much less "removed" from convention and tradition than the youngest of that generation are. In cases where Gen X is defined so as to include the early 1960's, a lot of those people are likely to have their own Gen Y children, as well as those Boomers who have Gen Y children. One point here is that separating generations by names suggests clear-cut differences between parents when there can actually be some blurring of lines between generations. Something that happens is that a Boomer may have a 23-year-old son or daughter, and an early X-er may have a son or daughter of the same age. The 23-year-old may be the Boomer's youngest child, while the individual of the same age may be the X-er's eldest child. Not all 23-year-olds who want to complain about their parents will be complaining about parents of the same generation.

Something else (just for the purpose of putting generations and complaints about generations in context) is that one of those early/borderline Boomers born in 1943 could easily have children considered "Boomers", themselves if the borderline Boomer had a child at 20 or younger. At the other end of the Boomer-parents there are those who, like me, are parents of "millennials".

So, having made the above observations; and having tried (within the limitations of such broad and even varying definitions of each generation) to put some things in perspective; I'd like to wrap up the "introduction" section of this Hub by point out that I'm not all that much older than the oldest of X-ers; and I played no role whatsoever in how any of them turned out. With Y generation kids, I actually found myself among a lot of those older X-er parents. As a result, when I was parenting my own three children I often felt very much a like throwback to the WWII-generation of parents whose values and thinking, in the absence of outside, conflicting, forces that would come for parents younger than I (who had, themselves, been raised by "early"/"borderline" Boomers or else first-wave Boomers.

While my "Boomer status" connects me in many ways with the WWII-generation parents I had, it happens that I came along close enough to when X-ers would come along, that I neither fit with older Boomers nor older X-ers. It is, perhaps, this lack of truly fitting in with either of those groups that left me to hack my own path as a parent, when it came to settling on some reasonable set of values, behaviors, and philosophies that suited me.

I don't know what, if anything, the above observations and analysis matter to any readers; but if nothing else, they should point out that nobody from any generation "all thinks alike".

AND HERE'S, "THE UGLIER LEGACY OF MY OWN GENERATION"

There has always been something thathas made me look at my own generation with some contempt or shame orwhatever word should be used to describe, essentially, a bad taste inthe mouth.

While it is never really appropriate to generalize, my generation ismade of up of a population for whom going to college was almost takenfor granted. People of the Boomer generation were children in the1950's and early 1960's, and born to World War II generation parentsfor whom buying a nice, little, American-dream, home with a nice yardfor young children to play in was what "everybody" did. Nobody wasuntouched by World War II, so our parents' generation had a particularappreciation for the "luxury" of just living a nice, little, life in anice, little, neighborhood (often with the help of the GI Bill). Ourformer-soldier fathers, and our mothers, who may have worked infactories during the war or lost brothers or husbands in the war,started families in a 1950's America that focused on children andfamilies.

Things in the 50's and 60's were not perfect, by any means; but theidea that there was such a thing an "ideal" family was not seen asunrealistic. Some of our fathers went to war instead of college. Manyof mothers didn't go to college at all. They had come along in ageneration when only some people "had the luxury" of going to college;and if a kid didn't have a specific plan for a specific career he wasoften encouraged to go to work, instead of school.

Our parents' generation, however, seemed to decide that their childrenwould have green yards for playing, pretty dresses to wear to Sundayschool, and college in their future. Like all parents, our parentswanted better for us than they, themselves, often had.

And so, perhaps for the first time in history, childhood becamechildhood - a time for just "being a kid" and playing and going toschool, expected to get good grades, behave in school, and do allhomework. While there always have been, and probably always will be,families for whom The American Dream was not/is not a reality, an awfullot of people of our generation grew up surrounded by that Americandream. Many of us took for granted the idea that we would go tocollege. Many even took for granted the idea that we would go tocollege first and figure out what we wanted to be later.

And so, by the mid-60's and early 70's the college-student populationwas made up of Boomers, who, after carefree childhoods created byparents who worked hard to send their kids to college, often realizedthey were the first generation in their family to go to college;started to think they were more intelligent and sophisticated thantheir parents. Parents were seen as people who sold out for a littlehouse with a lawn in the suburbs. Imperfect parents (as all parentsare) were seen as hypocrites for attending church each week but beingcontent to remain removed from the peace protests that were going on atthe time. Some adults were, of course, hypocrites. After all, in anypopulation there will be hypocrites. The mood at the time, however, wasthat everyone in the "Over 30" generation were hypocrites, naive,misguided, war-mongering, and untrustworthy.

Seemingly oblivious to the idea that it is parents who are responsiblewhen we are nurtured in a way that leads to our being reasonablyintelligent, and that it is having a wonderful childhood that oftengives us the confidence to be sure of ourselves when we reach collegeage, our generation was the generation that would successfully upsetall the old apple carts and recreate American society to its owntastes. Some of the apple carts upset by the Boomer generation werelong overdue for it, but as with all revolutions, some that should nothave been upset were.

Seemingly oblivious that they were as "aware" and intelligent andeducated as they were because of, not in spite of, their parents; manypeople of our generation decided to overturn all the apple carts thattheir ignorant, naive, unsophisticated, and hypocritical parents hadbuilt. At ages when their prefrontal cortex was not even completelymatured, many in our generation decided what was cool and what wasn't -and some were even aggressive enough to manage to convince theirparents to become "enlightened" and cool as well. College students werehaving more than their say, and a good portion of American society waslistening.

Since there was alcoholism in our society, our generation decided itwas hypocritical to try stop young people from using drugs. Since someof the parents of our generation were, in fact, flawed or toooppressive, our generation decided to be a different kind of parent.

In an age when technology was more and more becoming "the latest thing"young people trained in, and working in, technology were enjoying theprestige of being involved with that latest thing. Non-technologicalfields, like teaching, social work, psychology, law, and journalismwere seen as "caring" professions and/or "intellectual" professions.Surrounding themselves with others like them, people our generationoften came to see themselves as a little superior to their blue collarfathers and at-home mothers.

And so, with the positive changes for which our generation wassubstantially responsible, came some"throwing-the-baby-out-with-bath-water" changes as well - and when you"throw the baby out with the bath water" there's no getting that "baby"back.

The people of our generation are often proud of changes in civilrights, women's rights, reproductive freedom, and any number of otherchanges that took hold back when all was in upheaval in America. Somelook back fondly on their own drug use in their college days. Some areproud of bringing that "enlightened" awareness that sex and love don'talways have to go together, and that beliefs about going to "hell" forpremarital sex have largely been changed. Our generation may well bethe generation, too, that made Bachelor's degrees common and Master'sdegrees almost as common. It was our generation that switched its"music loyalty" from the light-hearted Beachboys to Jethro Tull.

Of course, our generation was the one that, for the most part, decideddaughters would not be ignored in school and that daughters would getto participate in sports. It is the generation that has become part of"The Sandwich" generation, in which parents care for their kids butalso take care of elderly parents. Our generation is not a badgeneration, but in its youth it may have made done some damage to someapple carts that might even be seen as unforgivable.

More unforgivable, though, is the fact that today, as so many people inour generation have either gone through, or are going through, thestage of life in which they must find ways to care for elderly,infirmed, parents; many still believe they are more intelligent andwiser than those parents. Baby Boomers often see themselves as the bigcheeses in the sandwich of the "Sandwich Generation", still notrealizing how much the people of our parents' generation learned fromlives that were not nearly so sheltered and fortunate as those of theirchildren.

As we watch our children turn from teenagers into college students andyoung professionals, we, in the Boomer generation, will begin to get ataste of what our parents went through. The difference, however, isthat our children have not seen the end of innocence the way so many ofus have. Their childhoods, not matter how abundant, did not have thekind of innocence that ours did - and that, my fellow Boomers, is thething that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Having said all of what's said above, there, for the benefit of anyone reading, I'd like to respond specifically to the Hubber whose "speaking out" inspired this Hub: VAMPYGYRL420, as you can see, not everyone of a generation older than yours is "out to tear down" your generation. As you can also see, I've got more than a few things to say about my own generation. I absolutely admire and respect so many things about my own grown sons and daughter, as well as a lot of Gen X people I know.

There's no doubt about it, there are things about generations younger than mine (besides my own) that, to me, aren't "the best" in terms of things that are healthiest for individuals, families, or societies. I'll admit that I think, in a lot of ways, Gen X and Gen Y people could "dial back" a few things that I happen to think are a little (or a lot) misguided. At the same time, when I know the kind of person I am (in spite of coming from a generation that, to me, was largely responsible for a whole lot of mess and taking society somewhere unfortunate), I have to be reasonable enough to know that, no matter what someone's "generation" is, one's "generation" is not the measure of any one, individual.

I know I said this Hub would not be in rebuttal to yours (and on the whole isn't). There are, however, a couple of points that, I guess, I'd consider a little bit of a rebuttal. You mentioned a mess (maybe not in those words, I don't recall) the previous generation has created. You're right. In many ways it has. At the same time, though, much of the upheaval my generation brought as it came of age died down as its members collectively matured. The main upheaval was in the 60's and in response to some things that really did need addressing.

I think, though, that while a lot of people in my generation made some mistakes and messes (and, again, everyone in any generation doesn't necessarily think in the same way), the generations that have followed have "taken the ball and run with it", bringing "the ball" and a lot of the mess right on out to areas well beyond the game being played right now.

Back in the 60's and 70's, when so many in my generation were only worried about being cool and/or feeling good, there were some people who said, "Keep that ball. I'm not playing, and I'm not running with it." If there had been more people who did that, things might not have been taken so far out beyond what was healthier and more balanced for individuals and society.

The same is true for people in your generation or the one that follows it (or the one after that). There needs to be enough people who say, "Keep that ball. I'm not running with it. I'm going to go find a better ball, throw it to someone else, and make the game the kind of game it should be." It's never enough to just say, "Hey - you people gave me a defective ball." You have to go find a better one and start a new game. My generation was real "big" on pointing out all the "defective balls" the previous generation was throwing out. In fact, people of my generation got so used to finding flaws they just started rejecting everything (even the most valuable and perfect things human beings can offer others) automatically.

A bunch of college-aged "know-it-alls" (and young people are known for "knowing it all" anyway) managed to get themselves a big audience; and then a bunch of insecure middle-aged people who wanted to seem youthful and cool joined in on any number of "mentalities" and behaviors.

It takes being self-confident, sensible, and strong to refuse to play the bad game someone hands you; but there's never been a time in history when one generation wasn't handed a pile of crap and expected to play a good game. Your generation is no different. In fact, in many ways your generation and the one that follows it has been thrown some pretty decent stuff.

Every generation is pretty much a "make-believe" thing, because each of us defines who we are as individuals. Birth statistic and Madison Avenue don't define a generation. Generations are defined by individuals who show values and behaviors that will earn their generation a title like, "The Greatest Generation". It's not about what we're handed in this life, and it isn't about what pieces we end up having to pick up. It's about what we do with what we're handed, how skilled we are at picking up those pieces, and whether they smart enough to recognize what pieces are so broken they must be thrown away and which ones are so valuable we need to figure out some way to glue them back together.

My generation was handed a lot of valuable and wonderful things by my parents' generation and generations that came before it. It was also, however, handed an America in which African Americans were expected to sit in the back of the bus. My generation inherited the beliefs that school teachers didn't have to bother paying quite so much attention to girls, because girls were "only" going to become mothers, secretaries, school-teachers, or nurses "anyway". My generation had mothers who were born a year after women got the right to vote. It was my generation, too, that was sent (drafted) to fight and die in a war most now agree was a terrible mistake (and worse).

So, it was my generation that had young people (of all colors) fighting for the rights of African Americans. It was my generation that made the biggest strides in getting people to see the potential of girls and women. It was my generation that made a big enough stink about the government's sending mother's sons into wars against their will that the draft was eliminated in the U.S. (and your generation's mothers and fathers won't, God willing, have to worry about having your child sent into war).

My generation made its mistakes, but it has also been a generation that stood up and spoke up when nobody from previous generations had bothered, or else been effective when they tried.

I don't know what the world looks like through the eyes of someone of your generation, but it just may be that there aren't nearly as many pieces for your generation to pick up as you imagine.

Just one other comment with regard to the idea that the "time of leadership" for the Baby Boomer generation "is over": Obviously, it isn't. In fact the "time of leadership" for people older the Boomers isn't necessarily over either. Look at Congress, the Supreme Court, Corporations, State governments, and wherever else people around 48/50 years old and up are leaders and are running things. People can choose not to follow one leader or another if they don't want to. Not following one leader or another doesn't, however, make someone a leader. He needs others to follow him, and he needs to measure up to the behavior, character, and skills of a leader. Without those things, and without a whole lot of people following, the person who follows nobody else isn't a leader. He's just an outsider.