AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…
This article is entitled “Intermission” for several reasons. First, we are halfway through a year-long plan to develop For Boomers Only for digital and print formats. Second, our little Richtor Publishing Co. is merging into The .918 Press, which does much more than just funny blogs. Third, we felt it necessary to take a moment to acknowledge that you people are depressed and unhappy out there!
According to our favorite market research organization, Pew Research, boomers are unhappy about the economy, lack of jobs, politics, quality of life, technology and not the least of all, sex. There are so many boomers getting divorced right now they even have a special term for it, “Grey Divorce.”
There is also a general dissatisfaction with boomers running things and “boomer bashing” has become a popular sport among the young, many of whom still live at home. They see us as competition and they are probably right, because in this economy we’re all fighting for the same few jobs out there. The 65+ crowd that AARP caters to doesn’t much like boomers either and apparently still resents us for having had long hair and getting Nixon fired. Oh well.
But we suspect all of this is just a symptom of a deeper malady that is affecting every culture on the planet. It’s fairly simple to understand, but very difficult to resolve – our social development is simply not able to keep up with our technological development. Our science may be sophisticated enough to send probes to Jupiter, but our society isn’t sophisticated enough to end war and hatred.
A lot of our blog articles have to do with the frustration of trying to deal with new technology and trends, from ATM’s to texting. It’s fairly easy to satirize our foibles with technology, but it’s a whole other thing to find humor in things like divorce, cancer and terrorism. And it doesn’t always seem appropriate to make light of some newer things that need nurturing not satirizing, such as green technology and healthcare advances. Despite all that, we will continue trying to bring you humor out of a world that now seems upside down compared to the world we grew up in.
As Billy Joel sang, “we didn’t start the fire,” but we must also never let it consume us.
We wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year!
Comments