Water Your Own Damn Grass

The best part about being human is the ability to learn from mistakes. It is hard to teach younger generations how to avoid these pitfalls and still pass on the message gained from journeying through the hardship. This difficulty doesn’t imply impossibility, just that parents must overlook their instinct to coddle and protect their children in order to teach a meaningful lesson. The Baby Boomers changed many aspects of adolescent behavior and parental guidelines. Jean Twenge in “An Army of One: Me” sights down the ripples of change the Baby Boomers created to examine the effects the changes had on their children “Gen Me”. Gladwell’s “Broken Window” theory, from “The Power of Context”, helps explain both the changes of interaction between the Baby Boomers, their elders, and “Gen Me”. The largest of these changes would be the adaption of a sense of ones self. “Gen Me’s” title is earned by taking “self” too far in the form of self-esteem. Extremes cases would include narcissism, entitlement and ignorance which are traits responsible for many epidemics and wars in history. Generation “Me” needs to learn from their mistakes in order to prevent passing down these destructive characteristics to their children.

The violence and degradation of New York City in the 80’s and 90’s was generated by the grown up Baby Boomers. The end of WWII brought a brief period of peace and prosperity. However the children born of this era were the first generation that would not be able to surpass the previous generation. This transition from inheriting success to just inheriting genes left the Baby Boomers searching for a meaning to existence. “Boomers took only the first tentative steps in the right direction of self-focus, but it was not forced down their throats at birth” (Twenge 759). Generation Me parents were Baby Boomers that had created the high self-esteem environment. When compared to the the parents of the Baby Boomers, it is easy to notice how different the context of childhood was. “Back then, respect for others was more important than respect for yourself and your marriage was arranged, your profession determined by your parents, your actions dictated by strict religious standards” (Twenge 756,757). After WWII these strict religious and gender roles fell apart with women earning equal right by entering the work force and acceptance of other religious views. The parents had no idea how to be supportive of their children which in turn distanced the Baby Boomers from their families. “The Boomers sound like people driving around in circles in the dark, desperately searching for something” (Twenge 758). Many different forms of expression arose from this journey, this search for self fulfillment. The Baby Boomers may have been centered on the self but the “Boomers followed in the footsteps of their community-minded elders—almost everything was done in groups” (Twenge 759). Freedom of expression led to the hippie movement, the music movement, and the graffiti movement. These forms of rebellion needed a group to reach others with their message and effect society is some way. As Baby Boomers become the new adults they “poured their wealth into things like cooking equipment” to start invest in their self and planning their families (Twenge 758). However the residue of their lackadaisical past and acceptance of individual expression shine into the context of New York City before Guiliani became mayor. It would make sense that a culture against war and killing of American soldiers would focus the police force on solving murder cases and other large crimes. Gladwell after studying the effect of the “Broken Window theory” on New York City says “human beings invariably make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context” (Gladwell 245). The Baby Boomers have residue of their parents’ generation’s high morals and standards, but in their rebellion from congregation to individualism, they overlooked the context that promotes civility and ethics. Such as the graffiti in the subway cars and the fare beater in the station (Gladwell 248). The importance of context is evident in the course of action of the Baby Boomer Generation and much would have been different if the adult generation had any idea on how to change their parenting skills so the interactions between them were not so distant. The Baby Boomers had finished their self discovery and fulfillment to give birth to generation “ME”.