15 2017 Baby Boomer Identity Crisis.
Baby Boomer Identity Crisis.
by Paul Robert Sanford
They told all us youngsters when we became wan and confused
after matriculation in college in the sixties
that we were just suffering from and “identity crisis.”
The implication was that we would get over the yips,
settle down and become good square citizens
as soon as we got some life experience.
By the time I graduated
the Vietnam War had hit its stride;
assassinations claimed MLK, RFK and Malcolm.
the Watts riots and so forth burned, baby, burned.
Half of us dropped out in some way or another,
the other half pursued success and stability.
Some of us are still lost,
the rest of us entering a happy retirement.
It turns out the world has gone through an identity crisis also.
In that half century America has dominated a world
,full of war, famine, racism and tribalism,
genocide, growing chattel slavery,
a population boom, environmental challenges,
extinction of species, loss of habitat,
global warming, stagflation, inflation, recession and
the rise of depression among all of us.
Like some people today, we were too smart, too hip, to vote.
All the choices were between the lesser of two evils.
Then we learned how bad the greater of two evils can be.
There have been unprecedented changes in personal freedom
in our country, even as freedom is challenged and held hostage across the world.
We strum our lyres and sing Kum Bah Yah and We Shall Overcome
and to the naked eye it looks like progress.
For a brief window it looked like even the Supreme Court
was on the side of Justice and Freedom.
Decade after decade the pendulum has swung back and forth
between courage and terror, liberty and law and order,
Justice and Just Us.
For the first time it looks like the next generation won’t do as well as their parents.
Or a few of them will join the 1%.
The election of 2016 shocked us back half a century.
I don’t know if we will recover in time for me to see it.
Identity Crisis? It’s personal, it’s national, it’s global, maybe it’s universal
as we discover new and glittering ideas about cosmology.
It looks like we need to take to the streets and the ballot box again
and take back our identity.
So true this- good one
“Decade after decade the pendulum has swung back and forth
between courage and terror, liberty and law and order,
Justice and Just Us.”
This piece hit hard and those lines were the hardest. I am Canadian but I get the concept…we are all in the same, shitty, leaking boat.
Your political stuff is so raw and real. I enjoy it very much!
Thank you for your support and appreciation.
This is great!
“All the choices were between the lesser of two evils.
Then we learned how bad the greater of two evils can be.” – Love these lines! And the part about the pendulum that was already quoted.
I’m not the best at revising/editing either, but I’ll give it a go:
There is an extra comma in the sixth stanza, second line.
I would break these two lines – “There have been unprecedented changes in personal freedom
in our country, even as freedom is challenged and held hostage across the world.”
into three:
“There have been unprecedented changes /
in personal freedom in our country, /
even as freedom is challenged and held hostage across the world.” Helps with the flow of the lines.
“Or a few of them will join the 1%.” maybe “Even fewer of them will join the 1%”
To make the ending punchier, break up the lines again:
“It looks like we need to take to the streets
and (to) the ballot box again
and take back our identity.”
(also added -to- there)
That’s all I see, and some are just my preferences. It stands well without those changes too.
Best Wishes!
Thank you, Donna. It is generous of you to help.
that we were just suffering from and “identity crisis.”
an identity crisis not and.
Funny, I also entered a poem entitled BABY BOOMERS. most of mine are very short, hoping to get the same ideas (or some of them) into lesser words. I guess I was drawn to your words because we come from the same era. Nice.
Paul, loved the poem.
Looking forward to reading the edited version
This is an amazing piece
The depth and pace
The tension between innocence and life
The struggle to see merit in struggles juxtaposed against backsliding social moral wants
Yes! Great internal rhymes and love Justice – just us…