In Search of America’s Soul

Where have we been over the last 50+ years of my existence? Born in 1953, I’ve seen what I think is everything but of course the longer you’re around, the more you see that anything can and will happen. The baby boomers chronology has long been hashed and rehashed, all the major events displayed, talked about ad nauseam, the assassinations of the Kennedys, MLK, the moonwalk, Vietnam, Nixon, Watergate, Reagan, the Beatles, right up to 9/11 and beyond. But something has happened to us as a nation, a tribe that makes everyone here wonder what’s up with this generation that the Who so aptly wrote. Heck, they weren’t even an American band and caught a glimpse of what we are all about. It started probably about when the Kennedy assassination took place. We lost something there, a moral guide, a conscience that pointed us in a direction of one mind, one spirit, one nation under God. We felt our leaders were in control, they had our backs, watched out for us and we could depend on them.

Of course, we were all getting older so our consciences were forming and our destiny was also taking shape. So much upheaval was occurring something had to give. The generations preceding ours were pretty much of the rank and file, taking orders always doing what was required of them and taking care of business. This method was definitely productive as the single most powerful country in the history of the planet was created by sheer will and determination to achieve by a conglomeration of human beings forging out a new and progressive way to prosperity. Here, on what could easily be referred to as our little island we sit, protected by water on both sides which of course has always separated us while the rest of the savage world around us take liberties upon each other, often making it easy to take the non involvement approach to governing and world presence. We love our little paradise flush with resources which seem endless and take our pleasures as they can be found. We, as a generation have had to move past the old way of thinking, just do as you’re told and all the pieces of the puzzle will fit into place. Many of the preceding generation had to quit work just to help support the family.

Not many boomers have had to forgo their educations to swallow that one, but it left many a WWII vet that much harder of a worker, constantly pouring millions into an economy exploding well into the late 60’s only to fall flat in the face of Jimmy Carter and take him out along with the Iranian hostage crisis. We however were the ultimate warriors of change, defiant and rebellious when faced with the ultimate reflection of human cruelty, war and especially a war that made no sense to our collective minds, we finally had the power to influence national behavior, we forced an end to the insanity.