Baby Boomers Growing Older, but Will They Grow Up?

There's been a lot of press lately about baby boomers hitting retirement age and growing older. There's always a lot of press about whatever baby boomers are going through because there's just so many of them. Still, one wonders what this kind of national attention and societal mindset has done to the boomer psychology and the non-boomers who love them.

Millions of people have grown older and retired and it wasn't news. Millions of people before the boomers learned to face the end of their careers, possible ill health, and grandparenthood with quiet aplomb. Instead of following the modest and noble example of the greatest generation before them, the boomer psychology tends toward self-centered narcissism, as is encouraged by national news on boomers.

Not only did the boomer generation pioneer thinking for oneself and protesting war, they also relaxed social norms that protect children being born into intact families. Not only did boomers assert their right to self-expression and discovery, they also pursued careers and self-interest at the expense of their latch-key children and soaring divorce rates.

And now that boomers are entering retirement and grandparenthood, many are not letting go of their careers and are not making time to develop real relationships with their grandchildren on a regular basis. They would rather play golf and fight aging “every step of the way.”

Boomers, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Anna Quindlen quotes, “No one ever said on his deathbed, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’” I would extend that to say, “No one on his deathbed has ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time on myself trying to look or be younger.’”

Boomers, it’s all about friends and family. We non-boomers miss you, but we have given up trying to change you. We’ll be waiting here for you now and on your deathbed. The rest is up to you.

Written by a Gen-Xer, whatever that means.