The Times They Are a-Changin'

I have had a theory for a long time, what I call my generational theory. Basically, there are three generations of adults living at any one time, and a fourth generation that is coming of age. The old generation is the generation that gives their approval to the workings of the middle generation, who has the majority of the power to actually make things happen. The young generation is still coming to terms with itself and learning to wield its' power, and as such is most important for the ideas it has, it sets the tempo. So the young generation sets the wheels in motion with its' fresh ideas and new ways of looking at the world, the middle generation puts these ideas into play because they run things, and the old generation allows it all to take place, namely because they are the generation that votes in the greatest numbers.

Currently, the old generation is the GI Generation, or as they have been dubbed, the Greatest Generation. These are the people that are now mostly retired, senior citizens, the generation that grew up during the Depression, fought and won the War, and built the country in the post-war period. They also got busy and kept after it, producing the middle generation, the Baby Boomers.

The Baby Boomers are the group that came of age in the 60's and early 70's, and were shaped by sex, drugs, and rock and roll, long hair, Vietnam, Watergate, and some of the best music ever made. This was the first generation to outwardly clash with their parents over basic values and belief systems, giving rise to the term generation gap. They accomplished a great deal, failed to accomplish a great deal, and continue to have an over sized impact due in part to their large numbers. While they may have been getting busy just as often if not more often than their parents, they also were introduced to birth control pills and liberalized divorce laws, leading to a proceeding generation much smaller in number.

What Generation X, my generation, lacks in quantity they make up for in quality. We didn't grow up having to fight off large numbers of siblings for the leftover table scraps, we got plenty of attention from our parents, even though that love for many of us, thankfully myself not included, came from divorced households. But not to despair, that just meant more presents at Christmas as we now had step parents and grandparents doting on us. My generation never had to worry about tough economic times and world wars like our grandparents, and we never had to see our friends go off to be killed and maimed in pointless and immoral wars like Vietnam. We came of age in the Reagan era, and if we didn't fully trust the government to do the right thing, we had hope that it could, in theory at least. We took on many of our parents liberal attitudes about individualism and tolerance, not to mention their taste in music.

So back to my theory, the simple version goes like this: The older generation, great as they may be in many regards, and as much of a debt as we owe them for saving the world from the forces of evil such as the Nazis and Fascists, are nonetheless mostly intolerant, conservative, and quite often narrow minded. They still use terms like colored people to refer to anyone who is non-white, and while they may not be overtly racist, they aren't anywhere near enlightened either. They drink the hard stuff, eat red meat and anything fried, and would still smoke filterless cigarettes if they could. They don't trust anyone who deviates from the norm, whether that be someone who smokes a little pot once in awhile, or listens to loud and angry music, or gets busy with someone of the same gender. We owe this generation much, but this generation holds back our progress as a people. That's why there was such a clash with their own children, the so-called culture wars that started with the Beatniks back in the 50's and continued with the hippies in the 60's.

The Baby Boomers are down for the most part, sure some have sold out and become their parents generation, but many still listen to the music, talk the talk, and even walk the walk when it comes to tolerance and openness and respecting diversity. I'm not sure what it is, but there is something I find heartening about seeing the balding hippie who, despite the gaping hole in the middle of the continent, still wears the pony tail halfway down their back. It says to me, yeah, I'm old and I can't change that, but I'm still young at heart and I won't conform to the man, even if as the one commercial jokes, I now am the man.

My generation has been called slackers and worse, and much of it is true, but we have good hearts, good heads, and I think that we have been raised with the values of the Boomers who parented us, but with the smarts to learn from their mistakes and to put more of our values into play.

But the generation to really watch out for is the current up and comers, the Millennial Generation. For my money, this is the real greatest generation, raised by Gen X'ers, they can relate to their Boomer grandparents on many levels, but they take tolerance and openness and diversity to a new level. They aren't hung up on race and social divisions nearly as much as previous generations, they are more compassionate and in tune with the world around them, they are adaptable, technologically savvy, and ambitious, but not just in a material, let's go out and get paid sense.

So my hope is this, that as the transition which is already underway continues, that the Boomers will become the older generation, giving their nod of approval to the Gen X'ers, who are starting to run things and put into play new ways of doing things. And both generations will be spurred on and kept honest by the incredible talents and enormous energy of the Millennials, who are just starting to come of age and take their place at the table.

What are some manifestations of this? The recent decision in California by the state supreme court to legalize gay marriage is a good place to start. While the decision may end up being overturned on appeals and voter referendums, the die has been cast. It is only a matter of time before the forces of tolerance win out, and gays and lesbians can have the same rights of marriage, and all the legal benefits, as straight people, with no preconditions or second-class status. One day soon we will look back on the days when gays and lesbians had to settle for civil unions or move to certain states for their civil rights to be recognized with as much amazement as we now look back on the days when Whites and Blacks couldn't legally marry. It's only a matter of time before a gay man or woman can not only marry and adopt and raise children, but also join the military without having to not tell if asked.

Another great example of the generational transition taking place is in our presidential politics. Less than a half century after Blacks finally gained full voting rights, a black man is poised to become our nation's next, and in my humble opinion, one of its' greatest presidents. Less than a century after women were granted the right to vote, a female candidate has garnered more primary votes than anyone other than Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton will not become our first female president in all likelihood, but it is now only a matter of time before it happens, because she has blazed the trail and given the American people a living example of what a female president will look and sound and feel like. The true sign of progress will be when these things aren't even a big deal anymore, just as it was once a big deal for an NFL team to start a black quarterback, it now goes with hardly a mention, especially by the younger generations.

In the words of one of the earliest Boomers, in spirit if not officially in age, Mr. Bob Dylan:
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Is rapidly past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'

And from where I sit, it's happening not a moment too soon.