yesterday was a long day and i have to blame a 4-hour staff meeting for the crankiness that led me to erupt at a coworker. there we all were, patiently walking down the Appriciative Inquiry path, when our boss asked a question about donor development and looking 5 years into the future.
it was like i saw the light at the end of the tunnel. it was like the craziness that hits the mountain climber when she's about to return to basecamp - she loses her grip and smashes into her trusty sherpa, killing him and everyone on the expedition with her.
our only male colleague kept saying how we needed to pay more attention to baby boomer women and their issues and i just couldn't take it anymore.
'jesus, i can't wait for their hegemonic grip on our culture to end. like the Greatest Generation, they need to die off. god.'
he got ruffled. 'hey, i'm a boomer!'
exactly, i thought. i said, 'when are we going to stop catering to them and actually think about the future? but no. we'll be strategizing around your needs for the next 50 years and nothing's ever going to change!'
you could almost hear the screech of the wheels as our boss tried to wrench the meeting back on track.
i went home, only mildly repentant that i had just made a 54-yr old guy feel irrelevant in a staff meeting. this morning, crossing the bridge on michigan avenue, i even tried to find another way i could've couched my contempt. but i couldn't.
it needed to be said for all of us around that table. (shrug)
Not Wanting to Be Left Out, Men Find Their Own 'Pause' - New York Times
8 comments:
I personally am also tired of hearing about what must be the most selfish generation ever to have walked the face of the earth. In their quest for self-fulfillment and so-called freedom, having ripped apart the social fabric of the country in the last 40 years, now my generation is supposed to support them as they dodder off into the sunset? I think not.
i'm a little leery of the 'ripping apart the social fabric' thing, but generally i am through with them.
that ameriprise commercial targeted to the boomers who are retiring? it makes me grit my teeth. 'you redefined the world. now you're redefining how to get old'. redefining HOW?
it makes me wish for a logan's run kind of thing: you're a boomer, your palm turns red and then you go into the arena to die.
it's enough to make you wanna write a letter to the New York Times titled "Why Gen X Will be Forced to Kill the Boomers."
i mean it seems like i've been reading about these things for the past 20 years:
how boomers changed sex (thanks, viagra!)
how boomers changed aging (thanks, viagra!)
how boomers changed health (do i need to say it?)
how about some other headlines:
how boomers did absolutely nothing about racism and classism in society
how boomers actually reinforced and maintained the status quo
how boomers created 'choice' and killed the women's movement
how boomers don't really give a shit
how boomers saddled us with debt
Did you mention their willingness to trade the constitution for a false sense of security?
You know, I don't have a lot of hope for the youth of the world, either. Not a lot of talent or original thought in the class of 2006.
Ah, genocide. But you know, we Gen Xers will never committ genocide. Too labor intensive.
WTF? It seems to me that the organization's focus is not on the middle-aged. What does the first letter stand for, again?
My oh my what a bunch of angry people. I'm sure the generation that gave us "whatever" will certainly rock the world. Talk about sour grapes! You who vote once in a while need to overcome your indifference to everything but your own reflection and engage.
That's the point, anonymous. We will engage. Now get out of the way.
I think I'd qualify as a gen-Xer, in attitude and demographic placement. But, those baby-boomers, some of them shook shit up before they went out and got suits, high priced vehicles and well-paying jobs. I realize that a lot of the writers of color whose work I really love and admire were/are boomers who never gave in...at least not all the way, in any case. They had passion and fire at one point and channeled it. Now, what exactly do I have to look forward to in terms of change, the twenty-somethings haven't waited til they aged to find and claim their spaces in the system. They are creating messed up institutions and orgs completely sold out to the powers that be, with chamber of commerce, corporate and bank folks mentoring self-styled political activists, many of our struggles are actually on the payroll of those who work in/for big business and government...when they're not volunteering to steer community orgs from places of their boards. That's what I'm noticing that's fascinating about the world unfolding presently. Going to drag myself away back to my blog site and eat lots of oreos, now.
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