Why Are the Baby Boomers in Such a Bad Mood?
I recently asked a neighbor how old she was: Nervous, reluctant, she said, “Oh, 60 or 61.”
This conveys the ennui of today’s “new middle age” baby boomers, immersed as a group suddenly in retirement, the loss of parents, the start of Medicare, the end of daily routine, the start of your husband’s affair, the sudden, urgent need to grapple for assets for the rest of life
and to guess at its length while enduring rash-raising reactions to the word “Kardashian” (for which no prescription creams exist at present).
Other possible boomer TV hits: “What Do You Think This Lump Is?” (quiz show), “We’d Like to See the Dessert Menu” (sitcom about dating in midlife), “Panic Investing in Midlife” (Sunday a.m., with expert panel: Warren Buffett, Ben and Jerry, Beyoncé and
that cartoon fish, Dory), “Hip and Knee Replacements for $100” (the new “Mature Jeopardy”).
Toni Home Permanents, cap guns, Hostess cupcakes, “American Bandstand,” lovingly packed lunches, the Beatles, “The Man From U. N.C. L.E.,” Motown, Madras shorts, the SATs,
undoing Nixon, the civil rights movement, ending the Vietnam War — all came into existence just at the time we, age-appropriately, could ingest, wear or wallop them.
This new middle age does not describe the lithe, the sexual, the hip or the cool — especially
hard on baby boomers, the actual inventors (see above) of both “hip” and “cool.”
Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.