I may have whined about this before…but I like the clever title that I am stealing from AARP!
Several times since the 2016 election, I have a participant in, the target of, or a observer of online conversations about how millennials feel that boomers are holding them back. We boomers are simply still working or holding office or holding some other political power and we should step aside.
Well first of all, hogwash. Although I agree that at some point many boomers should move on…there is no reason for them to cede control simply because younger people want them to. And maybe they are hanging on longer than previous generations but after all 60 is the new 50, etc.
But if you want the jobs and can’t ‘wait your turn’, out produce me. If you want political power, ‘out campaign’ me. Do the leg work, do the hours, make the connections, move into place…ain’t nobody owes you nothing…ain’t no reason for anyone else to just step aside.
But now AARP has a term that will probably drive us all nuts eventually…but for those boomers who are still being productive in the workplace and the political arena…embrace your new tribe! You are a perennial!!!
[I was asked why I was overlooking gen-Xers. I am not. But they aren’t the ones getting in my face about hanging on too long]
Oh great, now I’m a perennial. Guess I’ll go over to the Rec Center for my silver sneakers workout.
I’m still working but not because I’m a selfish boomer.
I’m working because I have to make up for all the years I got to stay home with my kids. An option no longer readily available to the generations after me.
I’m working because I saw my in-laws destroyed by the last recession and I know everything can be gone in an instant, even when you do everything you’re supposed to do.
I’m working because oldsters can’t afford drugs to stay alive, and I’ll need a pot of money for that.
I’m working because my children will not be able to afford to take care of me. They, like me, will be still working past the time when one or the other or their spouses would be able to help me stay in my home. More pots of money needed.
I’m working because I feel a strong need to provide for my children after I’m gone, now that policies put in place largely by my generation pretty much guarantee that my children will be worse off than me.
And chances are that my job will be sliced into 2 – 3 part time jobs with no bennies when I leave, so it’s not like I’m keeping a good job away from a deserving young person.