HOPEFUL PEOPLE ARE HELPFUL PEOPLE

I can’t agree with the conflict between millennials and baby boomers. That’s not what hopeful people do. You won’t agree either by the end of this post.

I’ll start at the boomer beginning and go forward from there. You’re going to read some uncomfortable truths, but they’ll make sense and smooth out by the end.

The common number for Americans in the armed forces during WWII comes in around sixteen million. After the war, the boys came marching home to start a new life.

We know today what can come home with combat vets: PTSD. The condition used to be called other things, but the treatment side wasn’t very strong. I’m not suggesting every baby boomer grew up with a PTSD combat veteran, but enough of them did beginning in 1946.

I mention the paternity part to give an idea of the conditions some boomers experienced. Dad was different; Dad was drunk: Dad had a hard time in life and took it out on the kids.

All dads are different, but those WWII dads came home after serving for the duration of the war. From my research, WWII wasn’t a rotating war where young officers showed up to collect a combat command stamp for their resume.

Vietnam was a resume war with new lieutenants taking over on a rotation between field assignments and classrooms. Boomers and millennials each had a twist of bitterness from their veteran dads.

Millennials are hopeful people

Boomers grew up in a world where their dads needed to teach them things to keep from going crazy. If the kids didn’t pay attention to the important stuff they got punished one way or another.

Millennials grew up in a world where they helped their parents. Who hasn’t heard the refrain: “I can’t figure this stuff out on the computer, or phone, or television. Where’s that kid?”

As they aged, millennials grew frustrated that their parents didn’t remember what they were told. Nice reversal, but it happened, is still happening.

Boomers have grown more needy, with some clever enough to hide their neediness, and millennials are fed-up.

Hopeful people say “OK, boomer?”

“Ok, boomer” is the perfect antidote for a generational conflict. It fits nicely into the passive-aggressive relationship of the young and capable, and the old and more or less capable. It comes with an automatic excuse for rudeness with, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Here’s a quick story, then I’ll get out of here so you can leave a comment:

I went to Paris recently on a Rick Steves tour hosted by a local guide. Met a bunch of hopeful people. One of them was a guitar player. Since I’ve been back I’ve seen his work; he posted a slide show with his guitar playing in the background. I liked it, liked it a lot.

So, I broke out a USB mic I’ve had a while and asked my kid for help setting it up on my MacBook Pro. First he made me feel inferior, then angry, then respectful of his decision to not help, that I could figure it out.

And I did figure it out after plenty of cussing and spitting and reading. Who knew a mic was set up in the Apple Preference Security and Privacy icon? I got it to work instead of being spoon-fed a solution.

Tomorrow it will be a week and I haven’t got a slide show with my guitar work, but I’m a better person for my kid not coming to the rescue.

The next time you hear a boomer vs millennial pissing match, look at the people involved and try to not be like them. Be helpful instead.

Thank you for coming to my BoomerPDX TED Talk.