Boomers vs the World

I'm grinding on generations today.  Maybe it's this leap year thing.

As we hurdle into the third decade of the 21st century, I keep thinking younger folks should be taking the mantle of leadership in this country.

I also wonder if the whole March coming in like a lion thing is valid in these years it starts one day later.  If we'd had this year's weather last year, we would have said March came in like a lion. But this year it was just the last day of February and March came in more like a slightly annoyed possum relaxed and playing dead by noon.

But I digress.

The aftermath of the Super Tuesday primaries has laid the generational question before me.  Few things are more discussed and less pertinent than our generational labeling.  Few things more relative to arbitrary lines in the sand.

The last time silly humans fought a war to end all wars, we celebrated the finale the best way we knew how, resulting in a world wide baby boom. Thus, 1944-45 would be the dawn of a generation known as Boomers. Every one of us born in the following twenty years are boomers, all fizzle aside.

Few can name a generation before Boomers.  There was the Lost Generation which may or may not have begun at the start of the 20th century. And nobody called the generation after that the Greatest Generation until most were gone and some guy was trying to sell books.

Sure that was a generation that did a lot of great things, but one thing they failed miserably at is raising kids. 

I may not believe the year you were born makes a difference on whether you do great things, terrible things, or just basically survive, but you've got to wonder how a generation of people who overcame so much, sacrificed so mightily to make the world better could produce a generation of self-serving sociopaths.  This opinionator included, of course.

A couple of weeks ago I stated I hoped the person who ends up with the Democratic nomination is not a Boomer.  I hoped the next president of the United States would be a Gen Xer like Barack almost was. Or a Tweener. The first Millenials qualify!

Anything but a Boomer.

But low and behold, here we are recovering from Super Tuesday and the two front runners are 77 and 78 respectively.  The closest competitor is firmly Boomer at 70.

How on earth could this be? Surely there is somebody born after 1964 capable of leading this country?  Someone born in 1965 is 55 for goodness sakes!  Teddy Roosevelt and John Kennedy were barely 36 and they managed.

But a closer look might change my attitude.  Maybe there is renewed hope after all.  The Boomer generation started when World War II was over.  Both Biden and Sanders were born during the war, technically making them NBAT (not boomers at all).

I might get my wish on a technicality, as relative as it may be.  Survivors of the Greatest Generation hang around long enough to save the world from the UberBoomer itself, Donald Trump.