As a late-Boomer (1960), I’d say I suffer from some of the “narcissism” that people talk about – only I’d call it something more like “unrealistic expectations.” I think I believed my parents’ standard of living, of which I partook, was just the way things were. You go to school, get a job doing something you’re really interested in, somebody pays you a lot of money, and there you are – middle class. It was supposed to be a natural process. It was never really emphasized that this process involved a lot of hard work, self-denial, patience, ass-kissing, and other unpleasant things, and it still contained a real risk of failure. I think my father tried to tell me. I didn’t listen – I thought he was “killing my dreams” or something.
Well, now I work at a relatively crappy job I don’t like and all my “dreams” are just hobbies or pathetic nostalgia. I did not do as well as my parents because I did not put as much planning and work and discipline into the process as I should have. However, I recognize the failure as mine, not my parents’. I don’t expect anyone else to pick up the tab. No feeling I’m entitled to retire on the public dime, thanks. My biggest fear right now is not being old, it’s being useless. To me, someone who has done as little as I have has no right to retire. You have to put something into the system before you get to take out. So I’m hoping the second half of my life – the wiser half – will be more productive than the first. Don’t count this boomer out yet. I’m not one for following the crowd.
