I am mesmerized watching the homage ceremony of the elderly, the surviving Congressional Medal of Honor recipients of WWII. Nobly, they file in to blaring martial music, flags waving ceremoniously, and thousands of people on their feet. The eldest soldier, in his 90’s, ambles unassisted to his seat. Aside from tears of pride, I feel the itch of something deep in my well of change. Just then I couldn’t put my finger on it.
It’s inspiring to behold those who’d given all to fight for American pride; a place and time when adrenaline pulsed uninhibited through determined veins. Ready, willing and able to sacrifice their last measure of courage knowing they might not survive. Relevant feelings now, when some realize that the balance of power could be shifting, and the United States of America might not be the most powerful nation on earth. As if, a benchmark of who we are as a people and a society. Apparently, it is!
I remember my father relinquishing a part of himself in WWII. As a bombardier-nose gunner in an enormous flying fortress he witnessed death and destruction, of a magnitude most of us cannot even image. Though I was not born til shortly after the war, I realized early on my dad carried a weight that no joy or success could penetrate. Marred by nightmares and day dreams, he slogged through [a short] life carrying his burden unaided. I didn’t really know my daddy, even though I was clearly his favored. He talked to me endlessly, and I thought inconsequentially, and wrote me letters when I went away to college. His prose was tender and intense, and before I grasped the depth of his creative soul or artistry he was gone.
As many of us baby boomers, with hearts in varying degrees of wholeness, feel the tick tock of a cycle we’ve tried not to acknowledge, we are also feeling we’re rapidly becoming obsolete and subtly irrelevant. That’s not to say we don’t still have something to say or do; and, notwithstanding the influence of the Baby Boomers over the last 60 years, socially, politically, economically, and technologically. As techno-mation sweeps across the land, it feels as though we barely existed and are [now] expected to retire to picturesque, adult living communes in warm sunny climes. Additionally, what a burden we are to society as we syphon away financial and economic resources from our already overwhelmed service communities.
The baby boomers’ great experiment continues. What happens now? For the most part, baby boomers want to stay productive, helpful, and contribute. We have the expertise, experience and wisdom to be collaborative, caring and shrewd. Not to mention endowed with foresight and an enlightened world view. At times, aching to jump in and guide where something is clearly not functioning optimally. Ideally, banding together with sharp, youthful minds that may need a gentle nudge in an unfamiliar direction; and really the only resolve in uncharted, unexplored realms that need innovative questions to find unique resolutions.
Listen Up Kiddos! The last 60+ years brought to you in blistering, blinding, full living color by the Baby Boomers. Whose parents fought and died to create a better place to live; and who themselves bled dry to give their children, and society, more, and more, and more! Whose hearts gave a final full measure so that future generations could live together in peace, harmony, and justice for all. Will their “all” be set aside, and forgotten? Our greatest challenge remains to be seen!
Lolly odea polvinale: writer, teacher, holistic health practitioner, and adventurer of epic proportions; writing for newspapers in Baltimore and Gettysburg; copywriter for WGTY radio; teaching Penn State’s health classes in Adams County; additionally, offering stress reduction-meditation programs through numerous community organizations.