Friday, April 25, 2008

Don't call me a baby boomer

Here's how my day is going so far: I couldn't open the file I need on our shared drive, so I called computing and was informed that I needed to take the drive off my computer and then add it again and remap it. Of course, I have no clue how to do that. So the friendly (but, as we shall see, not too bright) computer tech promised to walk me through the procedure. Yep. Well, we got the drive off my computer and guess what! The friendly tech did not know how to add it back on. So now I am divorced from the drive with all my work on it. And I have been reassured that someone will get back to me on that. Right. I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, things have gone rather badly this morning and I'm in a black mood, so I figured why waste it. I will take the opportunity to rant about one of my absolute pet peeves. So! Don't call me a baby boomer!! And absolutely don't stereotype me and then blame me for all the world's problems! If you've got to call me something, call me a 60's person.

Here's why. I was born in 1948. The baby boom "generation" is defined as having been born from 1946 to 1964. Do you really think I have anything in common with someone born in 1964?? Think again. The people I grew up with were concerned with social issues. We cared passionately about civil rights, the war in Viet Nam and environmental issues. We still care about that stuff. Many, many of us are still deeply involved in today's social issues. We still think that bigotry and discrimination exist and and that this issue needs to be recognized and addressed by every single American. We think that we have the right and, indeed, the responsibility to question American involvement in Iraq. We try hard to make choices in our lives that lessen our impact on the environment. We care about the quality of the lives of everybody else on the planet and we understand that what, and how much, we consume can negatively impact those lives. So yep, 60's person. But don't even assume everyone born in 1948 is a 60's person. Stereotypes are a drag.

Here is what 60's people aren't:

We don't toss feces filled diapers into the trash.

We don't buy cheap plastic crap.

We don't think we are the center of the earth, either personally or as a nation.

We don't throw away things just because we didn't like the way it tasted, because it was out of fashion, or because there's a newer, shinier version.

We never, ever wanted our hair to look like Farrah Fawcett's.

Okay, well, I got that off my chest just in time. A friendly and intelligent (!) person from computing called back and I can work. Yay! Oh, yeah, and I don't know what the photo above has to do with anything other than it sort of reflected my mood.

P.S. But don't assume that everyone born in 1964 tosses disposable diapers in the trash, buys cheap plastic crap, thinks they're the center of the earth or ever wanted to look like Farrah Fawcett. Stereotypes are a drag.