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If you look around many young people like single mothers are getting alot more than many older retired peolple on social security.Even alot of the young working are not paying income taxes and getting unearned incomecredit.Alot of the federal housing is occupied by people who could but refuse to wrok unless it is job where the income is not reported.IMO; although I don't need it ;I believe that we need to be building alot more assisted living units for the elderly and not mix the younger people in with them.I see this too much where the elderly become victims of the young living in these units.
You are right... I know several widows that only have a meager SSI check each month for income. I was able to help 2 of them get established in Section 8 senior housing where no more than 30% of their income goes to shelter.
Another widow lives with one of her children and helps out with her new Granddaughter... she had never heard about low income senior housing, but for now is very happy to be living with her daughter and son in law...
That's great of you to help them. I think there will HAVE to be more and more of this kind of housing as all of us 79 million Baby Boomers retire.
Our Baby Boom generation has raised millions of real soft perma-kids. Most of them don't even know how to start a lawnmower, cook a meal or actually work for their keep.
While we were soooo worried about their precious little self-esteem, many of them are now growing up ill-prepared for the rigors of survival and competition in the future.
And us, the 80 million strong crybaby enablers, will be screaming to the AARP and politicians to point a gun at the heads of all the younger generations to PAY OUR WAY!
It's going to get ugly folks. They will be pushing us down stairwells in our wheelchairs.
Our Baby Boom generation has raised millions of real soft perma-kids. Most of them don't even know how to start a lawnmower, cook a meal or actually work for their keep.
While we were soooo worried about their precious little self-esteem, many of them are now growing up ill-prepared for the rigors of survival and competition in the future.
And us, the 80 million strong crybaby enablers, will be screaming to the AARP and politicians to point a gun at the heads of all the younger generations to PAY OUR WAY!
It's going to get ugly folks. They will be pushing us down stairwells in our wheelchairs.
Well, I didn't mind paying for my parents' generation, including my own parents, of course. That's the way it works - to me it's a "giving back" for all they did for me.
Now, it's our turn. These "kids" gotta learn some unselfishness. Our parents fought WWII - we fought for civil rights, equal rights for women, and peace (though that didn't last). The kids now don't even seem to know that they wouldn't be where they are today (equal pay, managerial jobs for women, more equality for African-Americans, much more freedom to choose how they live, etc.) without us.
Now, it's our turn. These "kids" gotta learn some unselfishness. Our parents fought WWII - we fought for civil rights, equal rights for women, and peace (though that didn't last). The kids now don't even seem to know that they wouldn't be where they are today (equal pay, managerial jobs for women, more equality for African-Americans, much more freedom to choose how they live, etc.) without us.
You're seriously trying to equate fighting in WWII with going to peace rallies and wearing love beads? Really?????? Because let's be honest. There was a handful of people who did some real work or made some real sacrifices for these causes--everyone else just sat around smoking dope and talking big. 90% of our generation didn't do any real "fighting" for civil rights, equal rights for women, and peace... we went to rallies and concerts and that was about it.
And if you think you made some big sacrifice because you wrote a letter to the editor or marched downtown or burned your draft card, let me ask you: What did those things really accomplish except impressing girls and ticking off parents? My hat is off to the people who fought in Viet Nam, to the people who sat at drugstore counters in the name of integration, to the people who truly made sacrifices. But the truth is, most of the people in our generation didn't make real sacrifices.
IMO, the 60's generation was self-centered and selfish from the beginning. Our parents and the media doted on us. Everything revolved around what the baby boomers were doing, what we thought, what we wanted. Yet we didn't return this devotion--we rebelled against our families, against society. We insisted on independence. And that's cool--we wanted to "do our own thing" and we had a fun lifetime doing just that. It was pretty easy for us to do our own thing, too, because our generation got every opportunity and every break imaginable. When our parents were disturbed by our free thinking, we didn't care. We said: "Hey man, I don't need you. I can take care of myself."
Now it's time to prove it.
I don't mean to be harsh, but give me a break. We've been catered to for 60+ years, isn't it time to give someone else a turn? Even those of us who had rough patches in our lives found it easy to start over...a lot easier than it is these days. You think the next generation is selfish because they don't want to drop everything to take care of you? Excuse me, IMO the ultimate selfishness is to turn around after enjoying the "me-first" ride and then demand to be taken care of.
I'm proud to be an independent child of the 60's. But I always knew "being independent" also meant "making my own provision for the future."
I do like your idea of getting together a retirement commune. That's taking care of yourself. But I can't get behind this guilt trip aimed at the next generation. They have their own problems, and they're facing a lot more challenges than we ever faced.
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Yes, normie. I would not want to be young today, really. The world is a scary and uncertain place.
Our parents generation was totally unique. I do not believe that there will ever be another like it. They WERE the "greatest generation" and once they are all gone, the world will be a smaller place. They were kind and courtly even . I know that this will sound corny, but just watch the movies of the 1940s (Jimmy Stewart, Ray Milland , Grace Kelly.....) and you can see that they were totally different from the movie people of today.
I miss them so much, the ones who have gone. They even had a different way of speaking that has become lost, filtered down somehow.
__________________ ******************
People may not recall what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel .
When our parents were disturbed by our free thinking, we didn't care. We said: "Hey man, I don't need you. I can take care of myself."
Now it's time to prove it.
I'm proud to be an independent child of the 60's. But I always knew "being independent" also meant "making my own provision for the future."
I do like your idea of getting together a retirement commune. That's taking care of yourself. But I can't get behind this guilt trip aimed at the next generation. They have their own problems, and they're facing a lot more challenges than we ever faced.
Normie,
I'm a little behind you; I guess I am a child of the 70's but in my case, I didn't rebel (kind of wish I had voiced my opinion) and had to help my parents financially and still do. My parents actually raised 4 strong, independent children who today are all married and between us have 12 kids who are equally strong and getting their independence (ages 17 to 24).
CD has been a great forum and has made me think about the future and less scared. Retirement scared me. I had no role models. My parents hardly ever took a vacation. But they did something right - their children ended up living near them (within 10 miles) and spent quality time with them.
I like the idea of "Golden Girls" living if there were such a thing and who knows....? I do think those in their 40's, 50's, 60's are much pretty fit and healthier today than the prior generation. I never knew my parents to go and work out. I mean, it's a part of our life and our kids' lives.
You're seriously trying to equate fighting in WWII with going to peace rallies and wearing love beads? Really?????? Because let's be honest. There was a handful of people who did some real work or made some real sacrifices for these causes--everyone else just sat around smoking dope and talking big. 90% of our generation didn't do any real "fighting" for civil rights, equal rights for women, and peace... we went to rallies and concerts and that was about it.
And if you think you made some big sacrifice because you wrote a letter to the editor or marched downtown or burned your draft card, let me ask you: What did those things really accomplish except impressing girls and ticking off parents? My hat is off to the people who fought in Viet Nam, to the people who sat at drugstore counters in the name of integration, to the people who truly made sacrifices. But the truth is, most of the people in our generation didn't make real sacrifices.
IMO, the 60's generation was self-centered and selfish from the beginning. Our parents and the media doted on us. Everything revolved around what the baby boomers were doing, what we thought, what we wanted. Yet we didn't return this devotion--we rebelled against our families, against society. We insisted on independence. And that's cool--we wanted to "do our own thing" and we had a fun lifetime doing just that. It was pretty easy for us to do our own thing, too, because our generation got every opportunity and every break imaginable. When our parents were disturbed by our free thinking, we didn't care. We said: "Hey man, I don't need you. I can take care of myself."
Now it's time to prove it.
I don't mean to be harsh, but give me a break. We've been catered to for 60+ years, isn't it time to give someone else a turn? Even those of us who had rough patches in our lives found it easy to start over...a lot easier than it is these days. You think the next generation is selfish because they don't want to drop everything to take care of you? Excuse me, IMO the ultimate selfishness is to turn around after enjoying the "me-first" ride and then demand to be taken care of.
I'm proud to be an independent child of the 60's. But I always knew "being independent" also meant "making my own provision for the future."
I do like your idea of getting together a retirement commune. That's taking care of yourself. But I can't get behind this guilt trip aimed at the next generation. They have their own problems, and they're facing a lot more challenges than we ever faced.
NO - I never said I was "equating" WWII with what our generation did. I was merely saying all generations do things for the younger generation - I wasn't talking about the actual VALUE of what was done. We do what we do, depending on when we're young people and what is going on at the time.
And, my friends and I were not selfish, thank you very much. We wanted to help people, change the world for the better, and we tried damned hard. If you didn't do that, that's fine, but don't talk about the rest of us as if we're the same. I'm sorry you're so angry about it. Maybe you should think about what you DID do, and be proud of that. I think much more of our generation than you do, I can see. Try to be proud of it, not ashamed. I think we're pretty damn good people, who did a lot to help others.
Last edited by cousinsal; 05-02-2008 at 10:48 AM..
NO - I never said I was "equating" WWII with what our generation did. I was merely saying all generations do things for the younger generation - I wasn't talking about the actual VALUE of what was done. We do what we do, depending on when we're young people and what is going on at the time.
My bad. I guess I must have misunderstood. When you said:
"Now, it's our turn. These "kids" gotta learn some unselfishness. Our parents fought WWII - we fought for civil rights, equal rights for women, and peace (though that didn't last). The kids now don't even seem to know that they wouldn't be where they are today (equal pay, managerial jobs for women, more equality for African-Americans, much more freedom to choose how they live, etc.) without us."
I interpreted that as meaning you wanted the younger generation to help you. But apparently when you wrote those words you were saying the opposite, that you wanted to do things for the younger generation.
Well, that's very generous. I'm sure nobody would object to your doing that.
It seems to me that the fast track that the world is taking today that the younger generation - and you know who you are - will have its own set of problems to attend to quite soon.
As boomers, we dealt with post WWII fallout, Viet Nam war, the assassination of JFK, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and other momuments of our time, we have seen the first moon walks, conflicts in the Middle East ebb and flow, recessions, huge economic booms and so on.
We all did our part as we saw fit in our youth, in our middle years, and now into our retirement years. We tried to learn from our mistakes and those of earlier generations. Sometimes, we were successful, sometimes we compounded those mistakes with bigger ones of our own.
The young people today will be facing and dealing with problems, issues and world events that we have not even yet imagined. They are likely to vote in our first woman or black US president. They will be dealing with an eroding environment on a scale that dwarfs the one we feared. They will be minutes away from every corner of the earth and every culture that resides on it. They will have educational and technological resources that Albert Einstein and H. G. Wells may have imagined, but have not yet come to be.
I think that we have done our job and for many of us we are not yet finished. But, there is a new guard waiting in the wings and in spite of our fears of their scruples, values and integrity, they will pick up the drooping banner we left behind and get on with has to be done. I have faith in that and will rest my life on it.
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Younger generations will hate us
- will have its own set of problems to attend to quite soon.
