Re: “Baby boomers: ‘We earned it’ ” and “Baby boomers: ‘Dismayed and saddened’ ” (Sept. 7, Northwest Voices):
Collective responsibility rarely makes sense, and generational generalizations are too broad to hold much water. But as a baby boomer, I feel obliged to right the scale a bit in response to recent letters.
Yes, we earned some of what we’ve got; lots of “us” did work really hard. But we inherited the best social and economic circumstances of any generation in the history of our country … and then squandered too much of what we had. We chose — personally or through our elected leaders — to endorse policies that have put the generations after us behind from the start. Student debt, for instance, which now equals overall credit card debt. Housing policies that have made decent homes inaccessible for far more of them than for us. A health care system that is superb at the top, yet massively ineffective if you are nearer the bottom.
Far too often, we chose problematic status quo practices over real change. Before we pat ourselves on the back too heartily, let’s try to keep an eye on the whole picture … and, perhaps, try even now to remedy some of what we didn’t do all that well.
Gary Handwerk, Seattle
