I am a Baby Boomer. I don't say that as if it's a badge of honor but it does carry with it the notion that we are a special generation. Most Baby Boomers are associated with possessing a rejection or redefinition of traditional values despite having been a generation that most commonly grew up in a time of affluence. In fact, as a group, we were the healthiest, and wealthiest generation to our time and among the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.
In fact, I was so convinced that things would just continue to improve that I didn't think I needed to extend much effort, including finishing school. Somehow, the benefits of growing up with the security of a roof over my head, a good job and all I could want, would just follow me wherever I went.
This was reinforced by the fact that I had the good fortune of landing really good jobs in my late teens. I enjoyed work in those days and because I was a real people-pleaser, I had no problem getting noticed and learning the art of how to get promoted quickly. The fourth job I ever had was with Apple Computer. Apple was the epitomy of a company culture started by Baby Boomers. Apple re-defined what changing all of the rules meant and my time spent there continued to promote and encourage my independent character and demand for the best of all that life could offer (or at least money could offer).
I remember my first business trip with Apple at age 21. I was picked up by a limo driver and taken to SF International Airport for a business trip to Calgary, Canada. I flew business class and in Calgary, stayed at the best hotel available. My stay was four days but my actual hours worked were about six. The remainder of the time was spent touring the city, eating new exotic foods, experiencing my first massages and getting a taste for good life, all on Apple. I remember thinking that I had arrived and I was only going forward from there.
I received a call while in Canada that I was needed for a show in NY City following this trip. This was my first trip to the Big Apple and I was asked to demonstrate Apple Hardware at the Financial Business Analysts Meeting at the World Trade Center. Our CEO, John Sculley, and all of Wall Street were there asking me for one on one demonstrations of our new products. I think if I had only grasped what I was actually doing at the time, it would have been too much to bear.
Larry and I met while working for Apple and after working there for almost 13 years. Both of us had grown up with the lavish benefits of working for this company at a time in our industry where we thought we could never be touched! Our entire courtship was funded by Apple as we worked in sister organizations providing us with trips around the world - all expenses paid! So it's no wonder that our marriage began with the mindset that we deserved the best and that living the lives of the rich and famous would just continue.
Sadly, there was a huge cost to this insatiable desire. The most costly was my time. My job with Apple required that I travel about 80% of the time. That meant that someone else would be raising my kids and when I was home to see them, I was exhausted. In my mind, it all made perfect sense. I made great money and on occasion I got to take them with me on these trips so they were afforded all of the benefits of my hard work. Makes sense right? Wrong.
I had no idea that what our pursuit for stuff and lifestyle was really telling our kids was that happiness existed in things or in outrageous experiences. Further, because we never learned the wisdom of saving for a rainy day or investing for the future, we never taught that to our children either. Therefore, they grew up as we had modeled, expecting things to just fall in their laps with little or no effort on their parts and wondering why life was so tough when they had to maintain this lifestyle on their own. Or, they decided to drop out of this materialistic society and live on love!
Larry and I have five kids between us and it's interesting to see how our choices have affected them. Out of the five, one is a saver, an investor, and a very hard worker. I think she saw our choices as potentially harmful and feared our living on the edge choices. She committed to 'never living like that'. It's the 'fear' part that concerns me. While I'm so happy that she has adopted these good saving habits, I hope that she'll manage to have some enjoyment in living without the fear of making our same mistakes.
Two of the five kids have openly adopted a lifestyle that is in complete opposition to anything that remotely smells of materialism. They are our silent sufferers. They definitely adopted the "I'm doing it my way and to heck with societal norms" approach to life, regardless of the struggles that they appear to be having. Our hope for them is that they find the balance of earning as much as they can so they are free to live whatever life they choose without so much personal hardship.
One of them is a mirrored image of us - living on the edge, seizing every opportunity for fun and party making. "Tomorrow will take care of itself - in the meantime, enjoy all that money can buy". Unfortunately, we are living in a vastly different time. Without an effective and solid plan, the world will have it's way, as we've seen all over the news. Oh how I wish, we would have been better stewards of our resources and better teachers to our kids.
The final child is a mixture of all of them. She has the conscience of knowing that there is a better way to live but a deep taste for the 'sugar'. The battle of those two things rages wildly in her. At a relatively young age, she has already experienced some of the heartache of these choices. I pray she learns how to limit the desire to spoil herself in exchange for a safer and potentially more secure future.
I find myself wondering how many other baby boomer children of the baby boomer generation did not have the benefit of role models or good teaching. For those who followed my path, I'm confident that we have produced a generation of confused consumers and disillusioned children. What really concerns me is that many of these kids are suffering the fall out for the former generations choices.
I'm writing this blog primarily for the grandbabies of the baby boomer generation. My hope is that they will find good teaching and excellent examples of people who have learned how to live below their means - people who have found that time with people is more important than a garage filled with stuff. I'm committed to being one of those examples. I'm thankful that I still have time to do it right and that my own grandchildren may see an example of someone who loves the gift of life more than the gifts. May they develop a desire to love people and use things. May they cherish the things that they do have and be satisfied that it is always 'enough'.
Will you join me in being an example for these future generations? There is a prayer that I learned at a very early age and it's one that I've adopted again and I recite each morning. It's one that I've committed to teaching my grandkids for in it is a reminder to always ask God first for all that they need and to only ask for that which is truly needed and nothing more (anything above is truly a gift) I like the translation below - it may be a bit different than the one you learned.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Holy is your name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
GIVE US DAY BY DAY, OUR DAILY BREAD.
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that sins against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
Amen.
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