BABY BOOMER BOUNDARIES: CODING BOOMER LIVES

 

Are baby boomer boundaries different than any others?

 

It goes by many names ending with code, these baby boomer boundaries.

Honor code, moral code.

Man code, blogger code.

Religious code, political code.

Woman code, wife code.

It’s a line in the sand, one best expressed by the Hall and Oates Research Institute.

I, I-I, I ‘ll do anything
That you want me to do
Yeah, I, I-I, I’ll do almost anything
That you want me too, ooh
Yeah

But I can’t go for that, nooo
(No)
No can do
I can’t go for that, nooo
(No)
No can do
I can’t go for that, nooo
(No)
No can do
I can’t go for that
Can’t go for that
Can’t go for that
Can’t go for that

Don’t cross those  baby boomer boundaries.

THE TRUTH about boundaries is more an age deal than generational.

We grew up with ancient grandparents. Old as dirt. Probably fifty. So old.

I remember my parents in their thirties and thinking they just showed up at thirty. No way they could ever be kids.

Since we were nosy kids, we looked in every closet, every drawer, in the house. One time we looked in parent’s closet.

Where did all the shoes come from? Gowns? Who wore those?

One the other side hung suits, shined shoes underneath, double-soled ass kickers spit shined to a blinding glare.

The old man had his shoe style squared away.

Looking back from your own thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, who can’t see parents in your closet?

Don’t panic.

 

 

It’s a fine line. You don’t always know you’ve crossed it until you cross.

Comparing eras shouldn’t be so judgemental.

No one argues about old Star Wars. The mark they’ve left leaves its own mark.

But when did Clint take over for Duke?

 

 

Manly boomers usually pick John Wayne for the honor of male role model, not the young Dustin Hoffman.

When did Rowdy Yates make the big time? It was before the five Academy awards, but those don’t hurt.

He did it with his own code when he was old.

Are codes of behavior rules to live by, or a passing choice.

That’s the confusion of baby boomer boundaries.

From the outside this group’s reputation is well known: a generation of lefties pushing America toward justice for all.

The inside is another story. Like you’d expect from a huge demographic, boomers come in all stripes and persuasions. One brush won’t paint them all.

Add fierce pride and you get lots of people feeling they need to take back something they never lost.

It’s just hard matching kid life and adult life in the same lifetime. Something’s missing.

Depression kids missed their childhood; WWII veterans came home old men at twenty two and stepped right into middle age.

Boomers grew up with the ghosts of JFK, RFK, and MLK. Prime time death weighted a generation. You couldn’t ignore it. You still can’t.

In some way that may be the biggest of baby boomer boundaries, unresolved grief.

What is the Grief Code?