Why Boomers Rock

In his poem ‘Annus Mirabilis’ the British poet Philip Larkin wrote;

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles’ first LP.

What he was referring to was the transformative social and cultural events of the times. The early sixties was the time when the contraceptive pill came out, enabling young ladies to have sex just for the fun of it, without having to worry about an unwanted pregnancy.

Likewise, the lifting of a ban on the book by DH Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which contained highly descriptive passages of the act of sexual intercourse, along with hitherto unprintable profane language, was seen as a liberating event.

However, what occurred to me was the notion that when we human beings do something for the first time, some of us seem to think that we are the ones to have invented it.

Every single first-time criminal or extramarital lover thinks “I bet nobody ever thought of this, ha haaaa…”

As a writer for some sixty years, it never ceases to amaze me how many wannabe writers try to teach me what I learned decades ago. And it is not just writing that I apparently need to be taught.

Forty years ago, I bought my first computer and made my first successful attempt at writing a programme on an Atari 1040 ST. And here in 2024, I am still deep in the trough of creating things like new writing platforms.

It amuses me to think back to 2010 when, in an attempt to put me down in order to put herself up, one of my daughters’ best friends chastised me for having missed a non-existent message on Facebook, supposedly from my youngest daughter.

In a highly patronising tone Jen said “Ohhhh, Liaaaam, there’s such a thing as social media, you know? You need to get with the programme, you daft old sod.”

I was sorely tempted to tell her to “Fuck off, you ill-educated, unqualified, unemployed and unemployable, advantage-taking, inappropriate fuckwit,” which was all true. My daughter had invited herself and her friend along to my home in the south of Spain for a stay at my expense.

However, I simply quietly mentioned it to my daughter telling her I was not impressed. Unbelievably, my daughter sided with her friend, claiming it was only a joke. I didn’t buy that for one moment. Why? Because only the day before the same little madam asked me how long it took me to become fluent in Spanish and I told her about a year. She replied, “Oh well, me being younger and smarter than you, it would only take me about a month.”

Sadly, it was after that visit, during which my two daughters did more than enough to encourage their friend Jen’s inappropriate behaviour, that all contact was broken with my daughters and I have heard nothing from them since.

It might surprise you to hear that my eldest daughter’s chosen career is counselling people with family problems. It’s quite amazing to hear that somebody who cannot fix her own family problems (or does not want to) considers herself to now be an expert in fixing those of other people. Perhaps after going to counselling sessions as a client, she now considers that she invented the occupation.

So here we are, the Baby Boomer II generation, being taught some much-needed lessons in life. The fact that we have thought and fought our way through a lifetime of highly complex situations and concepts, and come up smiling, counts for nothing, apparently.

For any younger generation reading this rant, take note, we are not as thick as pigshit as some of you seem to think. Many of us have an IQ you can not even conceive of.

Remember, it is our generation that re-invented sex (thanks to the pill and the relaxing of censorship laws) pop music (Thanks to the Beatles and their like) and even money (in the form of credit cards)! Whatever you enjoy and even take for granted today, be it Artificial Insemination, Taylor Swift or Crypto, comes from standing on the shoulders of socio-cultural, pharmaceutical and technological giants who even in their senior years could easily teach you more than a lesson or two.

The worst thing you can do is patronise us as if we are some sort of village idiot. Of course, being mature adults we usually just quietly smile to ourselves thinking, if only you knew. But don’t count out the day when instead of turning the other cheek, we just let rip and kick ass in grand style and you end up with mud all over your face and go home crying to Mommy what Granpa said to you.

Boomers? We Rock, Baby, you better fookin believe it.

Image at the head of this post by rudyanderson on Pixabay.