I found the words in the title above from a recent issue of Time Magazine, and I suddenly realized she is talking about me and my fellow Boomers. That is what this post is all about.

I don’t know what happens to some of us as we grow older. We Boomers were the generation to disrupt the complacency of the 1950s and 60s. We told our government in no uncertain terms that it was disgrace for so many of our generation to die in a little known country on the other side of the world. I still remember the slogan

Hey, hey LBJ, How many kids have you killed today!!

We knew those words were needed to get attention. I lost more than one good friend to that stupid war. I know that there are many Vietnam vets who are still living that war and still rationalizing that those deaths meant something, but I think most of us have long ago realized the futility of all those wasted lives.

The catchphrase above was blunt, way too blunt for the old folks of the Depression generation that were in power at the time. They were shocked by our words. Will Greta’s words become the siren for this current generation now becoming adults?

I like to think of myself as a person of moral and social principles who would never wreck the planet that we are now in the process of turning over to them, or at least we should be turning it over. How have we become the generation to be despised for our lack of action? I am for all the things that Greta is proclaiming. We need to quickly get the world off our addiction to carbon fuels. We need to quickly start treating everyone with greater respect and equality.

When I saw the words in the title above, the first thing I thought is “she is talking about all those others. I am not like them!” But then it struck me that I am complicit by my lack of action. What happened to my generation of social change? It is shocking to me that we are now the problem instead of the solution.

Millennials should be taking over from us, but here we are with only three possibilities for our next president and all of them are white-haired old men. It’s time we stepped aside and let those younger than us to take over. But that is the cycle of life, isn’t it? We need more people like Greta to get involved in our political processes. Maybe they will be able to clean up our mess in that area also.