Dear Boomers - an open letter from a GenXer

[SheilaT]

4. Thanks. I'm a Boomer who constantly defends

the younger generations. From 1992 to 2005 I was taking a class or two every semester at my local junior college, which meant I was usually surrounded by 19 year olds. You guys are fantastic! I saw a pretty good work ethic, and a willingness to put up with working conditions that were terrible, much worse than I'd had at that age.

I can assure you that every complaint you've ever heard (and I'm talking to you, Millenials!) about being lazy and unreliable at work and ignorant of the world, every single complaint like that was leveled at us Boomers 50 years ago. The truth is that when you're nineteen years old and just starting out, there's a lot you don't know yet. And sometimes you'd rather party and not go to work the next day. And guess what? That's not so awful.

Most of us old folks didn't know very much about the world, and a lot of us liked to party, and some of us didn't always make it to work in a timely fashion every single day, but we survived and the culture survived.

Oh, something else. I used to read old Life Magazines, starting with their first issue in November, 1936. Far and away the most interesting and educational thing I've ever done. Anyway, I want you to know that by the end of WWII there was this pent-up demand for consumer goods that I'm suspecting (I only got through March, 1945) totally ripped loose as soon as the war ended. It was very obvious to me that the generation that came of age around that time was going to spend money in a way that would make your head spin, and probably not worry too much about the future.

Maybe someday I'll find another library with old Life Magazines and I'll find out how the war ended, and what happened afterwards.

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