“Talk’in ‘Bout My Generation”

"For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13b-14

The Who, a popular rock group in the late 1960’s, wrote a song bearing the name of this post. As a teenager, I remember grabbing my pretend bed post microphone to stutter the passionate words, “I'm not trying to cause a b-big s-s-sensation…I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-generation”.

Baby Boomers, those born between the years of 1946 to 1964, have demonstrated there is strength in numbers. The post WWII baby explosion emerged over 75 million new lives who screamed for more than just ice cream; they shouted for reform.

The assignations of both President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, along with the Watergate scandal, and our involvement in Viet Nam left an impressionable generation with an uneasy feeling of who they could trust.

Experimentation with illegal drugs mixed with a cocktail of sexual freedom became the trend for many. Words beginning with ‘anti’ evolved into an action word; ‘movement’. The civil rights, women’s, environmental, anti-war movements, all stressed individualism yet the message was to promote peace and love.

Many Boomers turned to hard work and became workaholics; work defined self-worth with a willingness to relocate from family and neighborhoods. Families became estranged, with distance, and their children were dropped off at childcare facilities instead of Granny’s. Though they still loved their family they chose to love them by providing things instead of time.

42% of Baby Boomers dropped out of traditional places of Christian worship as the divorce rate climbed to 50%. They chose other places of worship; beaches, lakes, and golf courses.

Today the name changes to Golden Boomers as GTO’s traded for BMW’s are now traded for RV’s. They are the parents of Generation X and grandparents of Y’s.

“Even if 74,999,999 say something is right, does it make it right? What if God says it’s wrong? Which gate and road will you choose? Which of the two truly brings about peace, love, and harmony?”