Wow! Brokaw left no stone unturned in his CNBC report on Boomers. For two hours, Brokaw touched on cultural, educational, political, historical, and technological significance of events that have molded, impacted, changed, and defined our generation -- and each of us individually, using many iconic faces and "everyman" types to exemplify the complexity of those of us known as Boomers.
"What will be the legacy of our generation?" he asks Congressman Jim Webb, who skirts the answer. Bill Clinton answers to "the Boomer in Chief," who accepts that title with a smile. He says we're have been unfairly labeled as narcissistic, self-centered, and selfish. Instead we have had high expectations of ourselves. Yes -- he's correct. I agree with his assessment that Viet Nam was an incredibly traumatic time and tore us apart as a country. And our last obligation is to not go out leaving an unconscionable burden on our children. "I love the Beatles. They broke all the molds. I thought that's what we were supposed to do." Wow, that's some assessment. And I see it through similar eyes, in similar terms. These are questions I ponder often.
Finally, Brokaw candidly answers the question put to him by Boomers: "What do YOU think of our generation?"
"Unrealized," he replies without hesitation. "You made a lot of promises and placed a lot of expectations upon yourselves that you have yet to realize." That, my friends, is the battle cry that Boomers must signal among themselves: Our work is not finished. We cannot rest on our laurels, and we cannot assume that our ideas and solutions are the best. We must remain actively involved in changing the world according to the vision we continue to embrace. We must continue working to fulfill our promises: to ourselves, to each other, and to our posterity.
And how I wish someone would read my blogs so that I could participate in some kind of dialogue on this topic and others with my peers.
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