With Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Humboldt, Occupy Here and Occupy There in full effect, we started wondering about our place in this society. Kate and I are among an age group of people born in a time period in the United States whose ideals don't reflect the views of the baby boomers who came before us or those of the generations that follow. The counter culture movement of the 1960's, with it's "Tune in , turn on, drop out" mantra doesn't mean much to us. Nor does the movement of the cynical Generation X and Gen Y kids who the boomers complain about with lines like, “Kids today do nothing. They're so apathetic. We used to go out and protest. All they do is shop and complain.” We, I guess we are the Yuppies most people are disgusted with. We started working at 14 years old, avoided the temptations of substance abuse, graduated from college and DID get the good jobs. While our parents served their country during times of war, purchased homes, raised kids and are members of the "Great Generation", our older brothers and sisters protested against that and preferred to associate with the counter culture movement. We, in the meantime, searched for and demanded the finer things in life, better education, material items and personal freedoms fueled by the wants and needs of everyone else in our society. We contributed and took from this society. And, so did everyone else.
We were children of the 1960's. Actually, little kids in elementary school during that era. Consumerism was aimed directly at us. And, we bought it. And, are still buying it. That doesn't mean we aren't above service to our community. We volunteer in droves. Most importantly, to us...we work long, hard hours without complaint. Our parents ingrained in us that through education and hard work, we could achieve anything we wanted. And, we did.
Are we Right Wing Conservatives? Are we Left Wing Liberals? Neither. Kate and I take the ideals of both political factions and apply them accordingly.
While we understand the premise of Occupy Wall Street, it looks like and feels more like an excuse for a party. Protesting for protest's sake, while we go to work each day minding our own business knowing we will be working until we are 75 years old as we house our boomerang 20-something children and care for our elderly parents. Maybe, we should be the ones out there protesting?
Where the Yuppies are today
~Spence
8 comments:
I don't want to stink up your blog with politics, but while you and Kate were in grammar school in the 60's, some of us were young adults out changing the world.
The class warfare thing is real. Warren Buffet said it best:
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
I'm happy that Americans can finally see that they have had their jobs and lives stolen from them. I don't mind the rich being rich, I just want them to make their millions on American labor.
All that aside, Kate was down in Garberville today trying to straighten out the Garberville Rotary club. She is soooo sweet!
You are too kind! And sweet is not a word Spence ever uses to describe me...so thank you.
You're right! Ernie's right! And yours truly is so confused. Just when I had it down, life was good, and the joys of Hollywood's Golden Age-- those Tinsel Town yesteryears-- were still fond memories within me, I come across this article rocking my world. I mean, of all people, him?
Don't read it. Stay away! You'll be forever tainted, skewed, and skewered. You'll never be the same. Trust me. Our Silver Screen heroes, dapper, debonair, and suave leading men, mere mortals after all. Sigh.
Turn back. This is your last chance. At least she had the wherewithall standing up and putting him and a terrible situation in good perspective.
Don't do it.
Ok, here's The Link.
(Had to look, didn't you? Life just isn't the same now, is it, Kate and Spence? I feel like Great Garbo. I just want to be left alone. Just take me back to the good 'ol days. Please. I don't like change-- and celluloid heroes never really die)
I don't think this protest is an excuse for a party. (Do people really need excuses for parties?) They want people brought to court and they want stricter FCC regulations. They are demanding things the government is not.
Well, I just got back from a wonderful dinner at the Blue Lake Casino. I went to the Rotary foundation dinner. Past international President Rick King was the keynote speaker. True to his form, he had us at one moment laughing, and in the next moment he had us in tears. He described how he felt about putting polio victims in Angola into wheelchairs, and drilling fresh water wells in places where they had no fresh water.
Spence proudly told me that he had made great points with Kate by putting together the program and stapling THREE sheets of paper together. Imagine my glee when my wife said that she only had TWO. I couldn't wait to give him the old house laugh. I went back to my table, grabbed the program and on my way to show him that a page was missing... the page that was stuck together suddenly turned into THREE. The horse laugh ended up being on me. Pride goeth before the fall...
We had great ordurves. (That's the way is should be spelled)The dinner came out hot and on time!!!! It made my evening very pleasent.
Don't you hate it when that happens???
Doug, let me talk about the party atmosphere comment.
My daughter, aged 22, lived in Portland and has friends who are involved in activism up there. While there is an element of working for the cause, they report much of the "protest" is "something to do" socially and many times not about the cause, itself. They said, (not us) it's much akin to a giant party.
Do you think smashing out windows of shops, which often times leads to looting, is about protesting against the 1%? When has that tactic really ever worked? But, hey, it sure is fun!
I do agree that many protests are more about the atmosphere than the cause, and smashing out store windows is often more about looting. That doesn't mean it should all be dismissed, however. There is some content here, and the reactions I'm seeing to the 11/5/11 pull out of money from the big banks (and some banks' reactions to it) indicates such. Some of these people are there to socialize. Others to strategize.
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