Whither the withering Spirit?
Certainly apropos of my Boomer rant, and arguably germane to my last blog concerning relationships, I am searching for the wherefores to explain the all too pervasive withering of the spirit in a boomer generation that once considered themselves the bearer of the ideal human spirit.
To wit, many of my oldest comrades-in-hair once boasted of being ‘free spirits’ with unbridled and generous sexuality, ‘anti-establishment’ non-conformists against Government tyranny and non-judgemental champions of the age of Aquarius.
The Boomer psychedelic ‘guru’ Timothy Leary summed it up in the mantra ‘Turn on, tune in and drop out’. Believe it or not, he had his head removed after he died and put it on ice, predicting that he will be brought back in the future.
Classic Boomer narcissism, combined with a great deal of drug induced delusion I suppose.
What happened to the generation of ‘freedom’? By and large, they now are stiff and old, self pitying, prudish, judgmental, CNN addicts - champions of Gig Government, zealots of Covid Psychosis and Climate alarmism and card carrying members of the woke cult of the victim. After a pampered lifetime of affluence, self indulgence and economic bingeing, they sit at the gates guarding against any of the younger generations getting in on the action. They want it all, and they want it forever.
A therapist once noted that my habit of attempting to understand the ‘wherefores’ of human behaviour is often a fool’s errand, and not as valuable as clearly identifying the behaviour itself. So let’s just look at the ‘what’ for starters.
I walk around the corner to a tennis academy often in the morning. The several dozen young wannabe tennis pros between 15 and 25 are hard at it by 6.30 every morning. I stand in awe at their energy, their single minded commitment, their focussed and healthy aim for mastering that wonderful game. I share the same joy and I understand how they can get up and hit a tennis ball all day. At the base of it is an intuitive hopefulness, a willingness to learn, a motivation and faith that hard work creates good luck.
Their physical energy, flexibility, curiosity and sheer effort are a direct contrast to my old friends who now act as the Politburo virtue signalling morality squad. The actress Bette Davis once said ‘getting old ain’t for sissies’ and she was correct and perceptive to say it. But is it really necessary for an entire generation to punish their children and Grandchildren simply due to their own resentment in the realization of mortality? Inflexible, intolerant, glued to the tv, the Boomers are devout believers in the Covid and Globalist Gods and the status quo, desperately trying to protect their own entitlement while avoiding their own death. I don’t need to recite all the data concerning the economic advantage that the Boomer generation holds. In every area it is apparent. To protect this advantage, they are determined to take all freedom and opportunity away from everyone else for their own perceived self preservation.
They are sissies.
They have turned off, tuned out, and in the present climate they have become exactly what they were protesting about a lifetime ago.
The hope resides in the young, so let’s keep their energy alive, learn from their innate optimism and encourage their freedom with a prayer that the Boomer torch is passed - willingly or not - sooner than later.