Sweet God Jesus: what a time to be alive.
I know that it has been four years since my last post, but our world has jumped ahead to a blend of dystopian horror and hypocrisy. We have reached peak idiocy. Idiocy is not saying that someone or some society is dumb; it's saying that someone or some society has decided not to acknowledge truth. It is to say that no one wants to be an adult. No one wants to acknowledge that we have adult size problems that are only solvable by adults.
We are inundated with so many stories of the Boomers and the Millennials facing off in the canyons of finance, education and the environment. (As a Gen Xer, I find it perfectly appropriate that we are again being ignored by our parents and our little brothers and sisters. We are the generation that our parents had us kids as they struggled with careers and bills and starting out. Millenials are the kids of second marriages, of marrying your secretary or the junior partner and giving them the things you couldn't for the kids of your first marriage). But these problems are squarely on the shoulders of the elders of our society.
Boomers: all the sex, drugs and rock and roll that they wanted, but when it came time for the circle of life to turn one more time, and their time on the stage had come to an end, they made sure to stop the clock, turning from elicit drugs to statins, making sure that they leased their corner offices for eternity. Cryogenics could only come from Boomers. Only the generation that gave you cocaine and Rogaine would try to ensure that they would be locusts long after their season had passed.
You can't blame them: they are the Me Generation. They are starting to look down the long, hollow barrel of existence, and instead of coming to terms with their mortality, and deciding to pass stories around the fire of how future stewards of this world should gather their rosebuds while ye may, they are making sure every last rosebud is burned by throwing them on their collective funeral pyre.
Donald Trump is the epitome of this insatiable lust that baby boomers have for making sure there is no cake left in the break room. He is the symbol of a generation that will stop at nothing to make sure that every pleasure sensor is overheated and destroyed. Nero would be wowed by this guy. Only under Trump could children be denied blankets and soap and have their last photos on earth be of them face down in a stream, trying to reach the shores that the parents of the boomers went and fought to make sure that everyone could come to this beacon of peace and prosperity. Only those who have never lived or worked for something bigger than themselves can, with no humility, pretend that they are protecting a way of life and freedoms that they never defended.
Oh, sure, there are boomers who went to war, who answered the call (not a request, mind you, but a demand that they go overseas and risk death and dismemberment or face jail) while rich kids like Trump not only ignored the call but made sure to gather excuses for their cowardice. But to the ruling class--and make no mistake, there is a ruling class in this country--those who could not find a way out of this call to arms are suckers (just ask classic chickenhawk John Bolton). Hey, you should have worked harder to be born on 3rd base Vietnam vet.
My friends, I will return to this corner I created for myself so many years ago. I am glad that it still works. I have so many miles to go before I sleep, and I thank you for taking a few moments to hang out with me. A good life is just one long conversation, and the bluebird in my chest can no longer be caged.
See you around the way...
