There are legitimate concerns about the economy and where the country is going but there is also another issue at work here. The baby boomers, a group I am a member of, is still the largest individual segment in the country. How they feel about themselves and the country has a very large impact.
My 27 year old daughter and her friends do not seem to view the world with the same apprehension as my generation. A friend's brother is getting married in Thailand and another is studying in the UK. Closer to home they are marrying and starting families and the future looks bright.
A get together a few weeks ago with around 20 folks that I had gone to college with was not a brimming with optimism. We laughed at old stories, although we stumbled over the exact details of 40+ years ago. We chatted about what had happened to this person or that one and how they were doing. We also discussed our latest physical maladies but felt better that none were in real bad shape.
The missing element over our wine and dinner was optimism. It is difficult for us to look at our future with the same excitement as we had when we met. The grim reaper is moseying ever closer and the words young and promising will never be uttered again about us, if they ever were.
How much of the doom and gloom that seems to permeate our national dialogue...we need to take back our country or we are going in the wrong direction...is fueled in part because to we baby boomers life is not just starting but is sputtering towards its conclusion?
