Boomers and Leaders

I could point to many differences between the world now and the one I grew up in. Definitely, computers and the Internet have changed things socially. However, the change that strikes me the most is lack of children.

I was Catholic and grew up in a Catholic neighborhood. It was odd if a friend didn't have at least three siblings. All my aunts and uncles had between four and eleven kids. Family get-togethers were just huge. I remember schoolyards and playgrounds were full. The schoolyard across the street had more children playing there in the summer than you see now during recess with school in session. Now it's empty, all the time. But it has a playground in it that's far better equipped than anything then.

Being so outnumbered, I think parents threw up their hands in resignation. So many kids to raise and socialize. When they reached adolescence, things went somewhat nuts.

Crime has been dropping for more than the last decade, but then it seemed to be going up like a raging fever. The Boomers were also the first generation to be raised on commercial television. As such, they were culturally distinct.

Now, Boomers are being blamed for a lot of things as things in our country have gone wrong, but I don't think that's fair. What's actually caused our problem is who we choose to be our leaders, and how those leaders end up acting. It wasn't a huge problem before, but the world has changed. So, now a human shortcoming is turning into an albatross.

Have to leave it there. It's one of those days where I really couldn't decide what to write about.