Boomers rushing headlong toward maximum entropy

“Baby Boomers”. Many trite and haphazard accounts have been written, told, and filmed about this cohort of U.S. Americans born during World War II and the ensuing decade or so. Some of these legends we know by heart, some by rote repetition–-even those who, like me, were birthed upon the trailing end of this cometary tale.

The purpose of arranging words within this space is not simply to recount and rehash. The proposal, here, is to reflect and, perhaps, draw out some semi-coherent pattern of signification like a strange attractor. To extract whatever wisdom there is to be had from our lifetimes, map it to the present, and present it as a bequest to subsequent generations–gen Xers, me-ers, etc. Those who have been continually and incessantly compared, contrasted, and defined by a swollen lump in our population charts. Much to their own dismay and annoyance, no doubt.

I was once asked by a gen Xer, “How is it that so many Boomer rebels, idealists, and dis-establismentarians become such stalwart, conservative, arch-conformists?” I had no good answer then, in the late 1980s, and I do not know if I can find one now.

What I do find now is a bit more incentive to cogitate and attempt a stunning answer. One that will resonate through the bones and convey to myriad hearts and minds some finer essence of human esprit bearing hope and faith for the future of humankind. Likely, I will fail miserably.

But, at least, such a downfall will not have been due to lack of effort. If there is no such wisdom to be “passed along”, it is owing to our own folly. And, if we are very fortunate, perhaps Boomers will uncover some insight among the words arrayed in this space as we all rush headlong toward maximum entropy.

So, as we go about our daily lives fittnessing, stock-market watching, traveling, trawling the Internet, or comparison-shopping for assisted living quarters, perhaps we can take some time to contemplate the weltanschauung we are leaving as our legacy. Alternately, we may find that we are indeed irrelevant and can get on with our retirement planning without so much as a second thought.

We know for certain that Boomers’ days are numbered. What “lessons” have we learned? What truth(s) do we wish to pass along?