‘Baby Boomers’: Whines and Wherefores

In response to the “Baby Boomers” turning 40 (Letters, Jan. 26), it seems obvious that many of them are growing older, but they are neither growing up nor maturing. They have an invisible sense of history, as if the world did not exist before their arrival. Contrary to what Liz Feldberg wrote in her letter, they did not think of or invent anti-war protests, the women’s movement or the sexual revolution. All those along with other social changes have been progressing or regressing for centuries.

The essential change is that we now have mass, immediate communication. Generations ago, genteel British ladies spoke out for the abolition of slavery and women’s rights (and even they were not the first), but very few people heard about it--there were no TV cameras, radios, and few newspapers to carry photographs--much less to be read by the masses.

I will, however, give them credit for the self-help books (most of which are not worth the price of destroying all the trees it takes to print them) and the counseling professions. It appears obvious that they need a lot of help. In the past, help and counseling was easily exchanged among friends and family. Many a house was built, garden planted, baby raised, and meal cooked without once opening a book. I think I may write a self-help book, “How to Select and Use Self-Help Books.” The Baby Boomers will make me rich buying it.

Feldberg says the Baby Boomers will survive being 40--and will go into 50 and beyond, with a bang, and not a whimper. Well, now they’re taking credit for growing old! As one who is well into that age bracket, let me predict that they will become 50 just like the rest of us, and any “bang” you hear will just be the TV covering that “momentous” event. Feldberg is right, they won’t go with a whimper (good grief, neither did we), but instead it will be, like everything else they do, with a whine.

MARY HARTT

Los Angeles