Remove This!

Recently I got a little riled up over the latest epithet for old people: okay, boomer.

I was indignant because it dismisses a whole group of people who were not archetypal boomers. A sub culture that did not contribute to climate disaster, that pursued a life style that was in harmony with mother nature and against corporate backed military adventurism.

Hippies do not deserve to be grouped in with the rest of boomers.

Counter culture aside, ‘okay boomer’ is like any other epithet. A gross generalization not necessarily supported by evidence. Youth may want to blame all the world’s problems on seniors…but would youth prefer a life without cell phones, without video games, without the countless conveniences of their lives that boomers put on the table?

There’s another saying: They stand on the shoulders of giants. Makes me wonder…what are they teaching in schools these days? Or perhaps a more cogent question would be: how are people raising their children these days? When I was young, I was taught seniors get my respect, among other standards that seem to have become obsolete, like saying please and thank you.

Then…today…I hear a new saying about boomers. With the first boomer epitaph, I was pissed off.

When I heard the new one, I wanted to punch somebody right in the face.

The new one is: boomer remover. Used to refer to the disease from the coronavirus, Covid-19.

I mean, you dis me like that motherphucker? You better be ready for some heavy shit. Don’t make me bring the gravity.

Face it, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the boomers. You may not like what’s going on today, but I don’t see you hoppin’ up off the couch and contributing to change. You don’t even vote when you can!

So, think carefully about giving life to this particularly disgusting sobriquet. I don’t know about every other old phucker, but this one will physically slap some respect into anyone who uses it within earshot. Wait, did I just type that out loud?

Listen, truth be told, I feel ya—for years I’ve been spouting the numbers, the demographics, how the population is aging, and how the cost of caring for them is going to be astronomical, yet another albatross around young society’s neck. Having a million dead elderly would probably peel back ca destiny of poverty for a lot of today’s youth.

But check it out, man—there’s this thing called the collective consciousness. It’s real, though maybe incomprehensible to us monkeys. The point is, you turn a callous ‘tude towards seniors and if they expire in mass—you will feel that. It will be like what happened with the force, when the Death Star destroys Alderaan. And you’ll be sorry. Because we got something you don’t have, apparently can’t have until a certain tenure in this life.

Wisdom. If you’d just take the time to get to know some seniors, you might find a reservoir of understanding and knowledge. We don’t have to be at odds with one another. We just need to spend a little time in each other’s moccasins…