THE MISGUIDED BABY BOOMER

Won’t Get Fooled Again? Place Your Bet.

Boardman Coal Plant

Growing up, little boomer never questioned why anyone would smoke in the house.

With a carton of Red in the freezer and ashtrays on every table, what are you supposed to do?

Complain? To who?

Then you go to college and find smokers everywhere, just like home, except they’re younger.

Tobacco already had warning signs, though not as dire as some are today. It wasn’t a “SMOKE AND DIE” warning, just a caution.

From the 70’s until now you’d think smokers would figure it out. Baby doesn’t need your exhaust.

Has the world changed enough?

The auto industry has a similar feel. Weren’t the gas lines warning enough?

If you could only buy gas based on the even or odd number of your license plate, why not find a way to use less?

Before they were called SUV’s, heavy duty four wheel drive rigs were called Work Trucks. They hauled and pulled and used their size and power to move things.

What work does a lifted Ford Excursion do in the gym parking lot? Yoga class isn’t uplifting enough?

Gas milage and gas prices combine to put Eco-friendly cars on the road, but the little two seater city ride still shares lanes with huge road locomotives who ‘win’ every crash.

Where did the little convertible go, the one that smoothed the edges of a mid-life crisis, the one that reminds you you’re closer to the end than the beginning, but tells others you’ve still got…something?

Viagra commercials speak to this with their “This is the age of knowing” take on aging where one man towing a horse trailer gets stuck and uses his horses to pull his truck out.

Another ad shows a man working with wood.

From horses to wood working, these men all know one thing in common: they better get where they’re going before the four hour window expires and they take a trip to Urgent Care before permanent wood damage sets in.

From smoking to automobiles to male virility, haven’t boomers learned the lesson?

The answer is a loud “NO.”

American Spirit, the healthy cigarette, puts you closer to the spirit land in spite of the organic label. Smoke often enough and you’ll be a free roaming spirit sooner than later.

Electric cars won’t use gas? That’s a good start, but they still need electricity and the last time I checked coal-fired power plants deliver almost half the power used with the combined fossil fuels of coal, natural gas, and petroleum delivering over 60%.

Modern problems need modern solutions, but the old problems still exist.

What did boomers learn in Vietnam? Not enough.

Back then the tactic of sending soldiers out in the open to draw fire was deemed necessary to locate targets. Was that so different than sending convoys down Iraq roads loaded with IEDs in order to spot the guy with the triggering cell phone?

Boomers get plenty of credit and even more blame for today. Deserving, or not, it’s a generation of change, so why not move toward the sort of change that builds a better future? What’s holding things up?

Again, The Who has an answer.

“Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss.”

Which one are you?