Baby Boomers

In the last few weeks, especially with the events in Paris and California, I have given a lot of thought to the things that my generation and the Baby Boomers who have come after my generation have dealt with over the past sixty years. A battle for civil rights, the Cold War, Vietnam,911, the conflicts in the Middle East with Afghanistan and Iraq and now Syria, and terrorism. The world has certainly changed a lot in sixty years. Much for the better. The Cold War ended, gains were made in civil rights for all of our citizens, and there have been major advances in science and medicine over these years.

But is our world a safer place to live than it was sixty years ago? Perhaps in some ways it is. We don’t have to worry as much about the world being destroyed by a nuclear exchange of the major powers. But does this make us feel safer?

Discrimination against members of our society is not as blatant and as open as it was sixty years ago, but it certainly still exists. We are certainly not a colorblind society. Ferguson, and now concerns about Syrian refugees.

Baby Boomers have shown resilience through it all. But so have the generations that have preceded and followed us. Unfortunately, it appears that in the years that are ahead of us, we will need to muster these skills and utilize them even more.

So as we head into a New Year, we need to stay connected with others. We need to talk about and deal with what is happening in our world. We need to remain flexible and adaptable in our thinking and our behavior. We need to continue to create purpose and meaning in the things that we are doing each day. We certainly need to keep problem-solving and working together to make this a better world. We need to continue to take care of ourselves and others and to deal with and address all of the feelings that come up as we attempt to understand and deal with the senseless violence that continues to occur in our world.

So may our New Year be a happier and less violent one.